


Ghost Fire

by lalunaticscribe



Series: Floating (Under)world [1]
Category: Totally Captivated, 완전무결하게 사로잡히다 | Totally Captivated
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Yokai, Hwarang, Korean History, Korean Mythology and Folklore, M/M, Minor crossover?, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Reincarnation, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Tension, fox!Ewon, korea - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:08:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7928977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalunaticscribe/pseuds/lalunaticscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I’m a samiho.</p><p>And, as of a week ago, I started work at Saehan Credit Union.</p><p>Now, I got a new problem...</p><p>“Is there a way to <i>not</i> eat your boss?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 空: ䷀ – The Key

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Totally Captivated was the original inspiration for the Floating (Under)world series, really. See, in one translation, Mookyul calls Ewon a fox (Wile E. Coyote in other translations) and that got me thinking – that, and watching My Girlfriend is a Gumiho.
> 
> So... I finally got around to writing it out, haha. I’ll expand this depending on the response! – LLS

 

My name’s Jung Ewon.

I’m pretty sure that the downfall of all people can be completely attributed to their curiosity. That is, at least, the philosophy in life that I, Jung Ewon, have developed over my 23 years of life as a human.

Why, you ask?

I’m a _samiho_.

And, as of a week ago, I started work at Saehan Credit Union.

* * *

“Don’t get me wrong,” I told everyone, from the lowliest _gwishin_ to the greatest _haetae_ here at Yokwe, our group of monsters trying to fit into society. “I may work at a rather suspicious office now, but I don’t belong to the _geondal_!”

“Ah, so... how did you end up in that company?”

“Ah, to begin, I’ll have to backtrack a few months, Jogae- _nuna_ ,” I apologised. “Up until a few months ago, I was a couple with Jiho. But, I couldn’t actually tell him I’m a fox, he might think I’m eating him!”

“And you didn’t think about that before you started going out with humans, Ewon?”

“Nobody knows if I spread it out! And,” I steam-rolled over her questioning glance, “I am, by nature, an affectionate person, if anything. So, I give my affection to everyone I come across.”

Nobody answered. They were too busy eating my soy-bean soup.

“Oi! Listen to me!”

“This is too delicious, Ewon,” one of the _nat dokkaebi_ , a pretty girl with two horns on her head called Mi-Suk commented. “You foxes can transform, right?”

“No way!” I shook my head. “I’m a guy, changing now would mean I need to change all my documents.”

“We’re not here to judge people on how they identify themselves by gender,” Jogae- _nuna_ intervened then. “Even if it would be easier to pass as one gender, humans are strange beings.”

“Yes, _Nuna_.” Everyone chorused.

I continued telling. “Anyway, my problems started when I didn’t make much of our fights. You know, since we have them all the time. And, temptation came right along then. I was really curious. Is it possible to have great sex with someone I don’t even love?”

“Did you find out?” Jogae-nuna was smiling.

“It was possible,” I declared with great gravity. “But Jiho walked in... and walked out... without listening to me... I’m a worthless bastard, I know!”

“I think,” Mi-Suk commented, “your Jiho might say differently if he knew how close to death by sex he was.”

“Yes, by all means, tell my ex that I went to find another source of _yang_ energy because he doesn’t have enough,” I glowered at her. “Anyway, a month of unanswered pleas passed before I saw Jiho again, with a handsome guy who could’ve passed for an actor.”

I sighed. “That was the second time in my life that I’d seen such a good-looking guy. So, I kept staring, he walks up to me, and he tells me...

 

‘ _You must be the fucker who’s been relentlessly stalking Jiho,’ the hot guy says before his fist is flying-_

 

...And then he punched me in the face.” I rubbed my left cheek. “That day also marked the second time in my life I’ve ever had my ass kicked that badly.”

“But... how does getting your ass kicked by a gangster lead to you working for him at... Saehan Credit Office?” Even Jogae- _nuna_ was trying not to laugh.

“Jiho told him that I can clean and make good coffee... and it was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” I shook my head. “That’s how my life as an underling began. If only I’d apologised after that fight! If only I wasn’t so curious! If only I really tried to fix our relationship! But now, I got a new problem...”

I faced the assembly of Seoul’s monsters and goblins, and slowly explained my situation:

“Is there a way to _not_ eat your boss?”


	2. 一: ䷁ – the Field

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry, Jiho...
> 
> He’s a great kisser.

****Eun Mookyul, the boss of Saehan Credit Union, _Hyung_ of the office, is really delicious.

I mean, in a different sense! I haven’t eaten him yet. Even as I avert my eyes, I had to listen to him smooch Jiho while typing my essay. Between schoolwork and working for the Geondal, I’m so busy and cautious that I don’t even have time to date.

Why am I cautious, you ask? Well, aside that Jiho would ask Mookyul- _hyungnim_ to kill me? If forcing me into solitude by doing this is his revenge, it’s really effective! I’m so hungry... and so damn lonely...

Actually, I’m more hungry than lonely.

The debtor from Jinyoung Metals tried to stab me in the office. Trying to default on a debt of 353,240,000 won?! Refusing to pay even if he has money?! Can’t he tell that it’s the debt collector’s ass on the line here?! And he cut me on the hand! I had to go to hospital! I might have used illusion magic to leave the mark while healing it underneath, but doctors are a sharp bunch, you know!

Hyung settled it with one punch. Then, Sangchul- _hyung_ _nim_ paid my hospital bill. I didn’t get paid for the collection... but at least I don’t have to leave town anymore!

But I have no way of recouping energy... the other guys in the office were nice to me, but I don’t think any of them would want to feed this poor _samiho_.

* * *

Today a freaking bear arrived at the office while Hyung was feeling me up. I thought he was a real _ungin._ You know, if there were bear-women, there had to be a bear-man too!1 And he called me a cuddly porcelain doll-face!

Fuck him, I’m 187 centimetres! He’s just eight centimetres taller! If I wasn’t already running low, I’ll cast a curse on his whole- Wait, I can’t, it would set us foxes back several years... I’ll cast a mild constipation curse!

No, wait, recall Jogae-nuna. What did she say? Humans and tolerance and forgiveness... and the Christian people also say it...

Back to the traumatic experience of sexual harassment that would have been so welcome if I was a little more hungry than I thought...

Anyway, somehow the Killer Bear – Sangchul-hyungnim said it, not me – wanted to go outside with Hyung and me, thinking that I was Hyung’s lover... Killer Bear was nice and friendly, but what’s with three guys in a Ferris wheel?!

Though, Hyung kept smiling. Considering how he prepared money to lend the Killer Bear, and decided to come here for the Killer Bear... he must really care about Killer Bear. And...

“Hyungnim, have I ever met you somewhere before?”

“Did you just make a pass at me?”

“N- No...”

Killer Bear got a projectile to the face for his trouble when he tried to intervene, which was for nothing because then Killer Bear said that he wanted to see the Boss _happy_.

I wanted to laugh. Nothing would make this guy happy. On the best of days he was still a grouchy-ass bastard. And I would have kept laughing if Hyung didn’t start glaring at me for some reason. What’s his being happy got to do with me?!

“Open your mouth,” he loomed.

“N- No, wait, _Hyungnim_!”

“I’ll kill you if you resist.”

I’m sorry, Jiho...

He’s a great kisser.

That one kiss was charged with sexual energy. Somehow, it was like oral sex for me; you don’t get much energy like that, but the after-taste left men wanting more, and since I’m kinda handicapped by being gay in Seoul it’s kinda hard to go canvassing for partners if, you know, my fuck buddies kept _dying_. I could pitch, but receiving would kill my pitching partner if he wasn’t strong enough. Jogae- _nuna_ has known _gumiho_ who could hold off feeding to just enjoy the sex.

It’s tough being a _samiho_.

If I lived within my means, and didn’t cast any curses, though, I could probably survive off his kisses alone. That’s how potent they were to fuel even the most basic of magical powers.

He’s a stingy-ass, though. He could’ve given me his day pass. But no, he had to tear it up in front of me and even say: “Why should I do anything beneficial to you?” with that sexy smirk and I just want to show him why... I could bewitch him. I probably could.

But that would be terrible for the both of us.

Today’s income was zero, and the Killer Bear went home complaining about why was he so ugly even with a wife, otherwise he’d have tried to pick me up. Sorry, Killer Bear, even if you tried, I can’t stay faithful to you, or I’ll be single again before the year ends.

* * *

_**1 Ungnyeo, Sino-Korean for "bear woman," was a bear that became a woman. She was featured prominently in the creation myth of the Korean nation.** _


	3. 二: ䷂ – Sprouting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ewon,” Jogae- _nuna_ cut in here. “It’s not that I have problems about you describing the uniquely... detailed... experience of giving head to your boss. It’s that I am unfortunately obliged by some parents to safeguard their children’s ears, since we have minors present.”

It would’ve been less of a problem if I could use magic. The _gumiho_ weren’t known as masters of illusion for nothing. But, I had used the last of my store of power just to curse that old man, and now I’m really running on emergency rations. Even my reflexes, usually superior to humans, could barely save the Boss’ vase from breaking.

Why did that Ming vase have to break when people were present?! If I’d been alone in the office, magic would have settled it. Even without magic, crazy glue would’ve worked!

…right?

All the big brothers chased me out, to save me from Hyung killing me. Even Jiho. He’d patted me on the shoulder and said: “Ewon... when you cheated on me, I honestly wanted to hang you upside down. But, I never wished you dead. So... _run like hell._ ”

Why... why do these things keep happening to me...? Whoo... woe is me...

* * *

Why am I even doing this anyway? Watching Hyung get it on with Jiho in the office and treating everyone as invisible definitely deserves some payback. I’ll curse that guy to break his penile bone!

Wait, humans don’t have it...

Is it better than being called a masochist, or a dumbass with no balls?

What should I do?

We’re not together, but I still gotta make sure that Jiho’s not angry with me. Human connections need to be maintained, that’s what Jogae- _nuna_ said. Otherwise when you get accused, no one supports you and it’s so lonely and you’ll get killed by greedy officials who don’t care about your life or death.

* * *

A week into bumming nights off fuck-buddies and I just wanted to sleep all I want at home already. Being bothered every single night... could I call Jogae- _nuna_? Maybe she’ll accept me if I was pathetic enough? Wait, is she in the country? Jogae- _nuna_ can disregard distance and time, but I still live in the human world!

My cellphone rang, and I answered.

“Oh, sir! Is everything alright?”

“ _Uhm, well... where are you now?_ ” Poor Sangchul- _hyungnim_.

“Me? I’m in Myungdong.”

“ _Myungdong? Okay._ ” He hung up.

Half an hour later, he called again, to my eternal confusion.

“ _Where in Myungdong?_ ”

“Er, let’s see... you know the bank behind the S Hotel? I’m in the alley behind it...”

And right before he hung up, Sangchul-hyung added, “I’m sorry, Ewon.”

Huh? “Excuse me? What do you mean?” But I got the dial tone ringing the sound for my funeral procession... further up the street, the Yeomra-Daewang himself has come!!!1

Hyung’s index finger came up, palm facing up. The finger curled in a gesture of summoning.

_Come here..._

I shook.

He glared. _I said, come here!_

Hngh~ Run!!!!!

“Why you little-!”

Dear Gameunjang-aegi,2 and my parents whom I can’t remember, and Jogae- _nuna_ , and Mi-Suk, please save me! I’m only twenty-three years old (in human life)! Don’t you think I’m too young to die, let alone tortured to death at the hands of this gangster?!

Hyung’s hand slammed me against the wall after about ten minutes of high-speed action, because I was a starving _samiho_ and he was... well.

“You dare make me run after you like a little dog?!”

Hell no. I wouldn’t even want a dog like you after me. He’ll be worse than the _Manlidongigae_! 3

Or worse, Ganglim-Doryeong!4

“I’m sorry, Hyungnim! I didn’t do it on purpose!” I babbled. “It was an accident! I was cleaning, but then... anyway, you can search all you want, but you won’t find that kind of money on me! I promise I’ll pay for it little by little as soon as I get a job, so-”

“SHUT UP!”

I quieted. Hyung had let me go, and was now resting his palm on his forehead with his default expression of being permanently irritated.

“What the hell,” he slowly said, “are you blabbing about?”

“...eh?” I stared at his handsome face. “You mean, this isn’t about the vase?”

“Forget about the damn vase or whatever,” he sighed.

“Really? You mean it? Can I have your word, please?”

 _Thwack_.

“Ow!” I rubbed my head. “What was that for?!”

“Fuck, it’s damn hot.” He’s ignoring me! “I can’t go back to the office like this. Follow me.”

He looked back. “If you run, I’ll kill you.”

“Y- Yes, sir!”

It really was hot. Hyung booked a room at the hotel, and we took turns to shower. I used the blow-dryer on his hair to make it dry faster.

“Oh, my God~” I started to titter over the sound of the hair-dryer. “You’re so handsome~Your parents must be so proud~”

“Enough with that annoying voice.”

I switched back to a normal voice. “Okay, you’re all set. You’re even more handsome now.”

Hyung was more interested in his feet. Oh my God, he likes it!

“Oi, you never actually saw your folks, right?”

“Eh? Sorry?” Was that what the office told him?

Hyung pointed at me. “I’m pretty sure that your parents wouldn’t leave such hideous marks on their own kid.”

“Fuck!” I hurriedly pulled the bathrobe back into place after it nearly dropped to give Hyung a show. Fighting off advances was so much more useful as a man than as a woman. Anyway, I’m a male fox to start with...

Hyung was still staring. “So. You found another stupid punk off the street already?”

“Ahaha, no, that’s not-”

I fell silent as Hyung started to stroke my cheek again.

He huffed. Warm breath tickled my nose, and Hyung started to look really delicious- wait, no, eating my boss would definitely incur a _dongti_! 5 Think about divine punishment! Even if it seems like they’re not around- oi, focus!

“It’s not like you’re particularly handsome...” his next words made me snap back to him.

“Maybe I’m not, compared to you!” I snapped back. “But other people think I’m hot, you know!”

“Yeah... I guess you’re not that bad-looking either.”

“Uhm... Boss? What are you doing?” I asked. Pushing people down might be fairly obvious, but I really had a good reason for asking!

“What does it look like I’m doing?” I squeaked as his hand landed on my bare inner thigh. “I’m trying to have a little fun with you.”

...Okay. He’s not being hypnotised or possessed. That beast in his eyes is definitely of his own making. Ethics check done, I’d have happily fed on him, but...

“What about Jiho?”

“What does he matter?” He moved even closer, pulling at my bathrobe. His own bathrobe had fallen open in the struggle, and hello, that was really- wait, what did Jogae-nuna say about relations with humans again?

“What do you mean?” I tried to dissuade him. “Ack, wait!”

“I’ll take the top, you take the bottom!” I finally declared when it was clear that, in my weakened state, I wasn’t gonna escape soon.

“What do you mean, bottom?”

“Uhm... it means you get spread.”

“Oh, yeah?!” His advances got more aggressive.

“Ack, stop! I don’t want to!”

“Why the hell are you playing so hard to get?!” Hyung demanded after a brief struggle. “You’ve been drooling over me ever since you met me.”

Yeah, because you’re hot and your life force is virtually limitless. I guess he noticed. “This is different.”

My justification sounded lame even to me.

“Shut yer trap!” Yep, he totally agreed.

“Fine.” I slid down, palming his crotch over his bathrobe. The terry-cloth belt just barely held the open front of the robe together... “Think of it as me giving you immediate relief to your suppressed desire,” I added, since little Hyung seemed to have different ideas. “But this is as far as we go.”

“Hey!” He wasn’t struggling much, but that might have been related to the fact of his dick being in my-

* * *

“Ewon,” Jogae- _nuna_ cut in here. “It’s not that I have problems about you describing the uniquely... detailed... experience of giving head to your boss. It’s that I am unfortunately obliged by some parents to safeguard their children’s ears, since we have minors present.”

The subject of discussion tonight at Yokwe had been Sex. Specifically, the... uniqueness of equipment between humans and non-humans and the embarrassing situations thereof even with human forms. Jin, a young _bakeneko_ who’d been here since World War Two, apparently couldn’t find a girlfriend who’d take his barbed dick. Kou, a Japanese _gumiho_ and Jogae- _nuna’s_ employee, still had a penile bone, which was all sorts of awkward especially for a nine-tailed fox. Mi-Suk and her girlfriend needed to manage the _Dokkaebi_ club better, since stuff from the sex shop next to their apartment building kept disappearing.

They’d brought along a _mool-gwishin_ named Eunwol, one of said minors in question, the spirit of a drowned boy. Although, could you really be a minor if your unlife began in the 1970s? Either way, his mums are glaring at me, so... yes, apparently you _can_ still be a minor no matter what.

With her face pinking, Jogae- _nuna_ licked her lips. “With that being said... How...” Her hands made a gesture of length. “How was it?”

“Good thing I didn’t give in.” My hands more or less gave the exact dimensions of Eun Mookyul’s dick, causing gasps from the audience’s women – and quite a few men, including some of the larger-looking _dokkaebi_. “Would’ve been my first time. No way would I have been able to walk home if that secret weapon entered me.”

“Shit, and I thought Aki was lying about their sizes nowadays,” Jogae-nuna commented. I’d heard stories about the hellion godson. “So... you ate him?”

“Nope!’ I made an X gesture with my hands. “I used Jiho to fob him off. I mean, Jiho’s technically my ex, but... there used to be a connection. Anyway, Mookyul-hyungnim relented pretty fast, I got back to the office- and it was like Cheukshin- _nim_ had cursed the whole place! 6”

I might have also, discreetly, fixed the Ming vase and convinced everyone that I was the king of assembly. And I might have laid a subtle curse towards Jiho to give him a cold while I had the magic to do so.

Jiho had been lucky I was in a forgiving mood. I was a _samiho_. That blowjob had really topped up my tanks a bit, and vengeance was part of my blood.

But that would have been disrespectful. To me, and him, and what we used to have. So I told myself that, because I couldn’t tell anyone that I was a _samiho_.

No, it was more like... I didn’t want to tell anyone.

* * *

_**1 Yeomra-Daewang ('King Yeomra the Great'): Supreme ruler and fifth of the ten Kings of the underworld (Shi-wang), who judge the sins of the deceased and decide what to do with them. He is the first person to have faced death (as in the story of Yama in Hindu Mythology. In fact, Yeomra is the Korean pronunciation of Yama). Like every other powerful god, he has many powers, including shape-shifting, reviving dead people, etc.** _

_**2 Gameunjang-aegi is the Korean goddess of fate and luck. Born as the third daughter of a beggar couple, her family suddenly became amazingly rich due to their daughter’s strange nature of making everyone lucky around her. However, she was thrown out of the house when she said that it's all due to her that she live well and not due to her parents. After marrying a humble and handsome youth – and making him one of the richest man in the world – she found out that her parents have become blind beggars again, and used her powers to restore her parents – plus her two sisters, who were changed into a centipede and a mushroom for driving out their sister due to jealousy. After death, she became the Goddess of determining people's destiny.** _

_**3 A dog that goes 10,000 li a day = 5,000 km/day, about 200 km/h** _

_**4 A human warrior famed for his strength and bravery, he was charged by the king to bring King Yeomra into this world (to help solve a murder case). With his wife's help and advice, he travelled to the afterlife and managed to capture King Yeomra. King Yeomra was so impressed by his skill and wits that he made him leader of the Juhseung-Chasa – the gods who reap dead souls.** _

_**5 Dongti, also known as Dongto or Shinbeol (literally Punishment of the Gods) is the term for divine punishment in Korean mythology.** _

_**6 Cheukshin is the toilet goddess in Korean mythology, and believed to be a malevolent one at that.** _


	4. 三: ䷃ – Youthful Folly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Attention: This touches a bit on religion in Korea, which is a touchy topic for some people. Any religions mentioned here is purely for descriptive purposes. The character's words does not reflect the author's actual opinion save for where it adds flavour to the story. - LLS

It was a couple of days after the end of my finals. Yokwe had assembled again at another location that was not of this world – literally. The location was a truly massive room, one that should not have fit within any building, much less exist in space-constrained cities like Seoul, but the laws of basic physics didn't always apply to the supernatural world.

If Jogae- _nuna_ ever got involved in a hotel renovation, it had the chance to be extremely profitable.

Anyway, today Eunwol did a show and tell on his newest babysitter. I had no idea how Mi-Suk had convinced a _haetae_ to take up babysitting duties, but yes, she’d done it. Damn, there goes some extra funds, no matter how safe their kid was now.

Jogae- _nuna_ had brought along _gyeranppang_ – cakes of rice flour containing an egg each – and _bossam_ – steamed pork wrapped in lettuce and accompanied by _ssamjang_. I ate some, and was duly impressed until she said that it was her godson’s cooking. They went great with Mi-Suk’s _japchae_ – vermicelli cooked with stir-fried vegetables and small pieces of beef in a soy sauce mixture.

“Akihito’s finally going to become a photographer,” Jogae- _nuna_ happily told everyone and anyone. “Cute kids should really go on a voyage. You can’t hold them back forever.”

“But some still live with their parents.”

“Can’t be helped, land is expensive,” Jogae- _nuna_ swiftly replied, pulling out a cooler from – where? I have no idea. Jogae- _nuna_ must’ve been a hostess at some point. “Well, I have _baekseju_ , your usual _soju_ , _makgeolli_ , _bokbunja_ and- oh! Ewon, catch!”

I caught the bottle, nearly dropping my plate of _bossam_. I screeched as I spotted the ceramic penis with the smiling face on top. “ _Nunim_! Don’t give me _beolddeokju_! 1”

“It’s to stave off your hunger. I got that with-” Jogae- _nuna_ wiggled her fingers in an approximation of magic. “You’re really gonna need help against your boss, right?”

I wilted immediately. “Like you wouldn’t believe...”

* * *

It would’ve been easier if he’d had plastic surgery. I’d rather he’d had plastic surgery, but no, natural-born handsome men like him existed. Every time he fell asleep, a Mafia office turned into a photo studio.

And, while gawking at the boss, we’d all become like gossiping middle-aged women at the market trying too buy mackerel. It got so bad that Hyung had awoken, disturbed, and then dragged my face towards his.

“Now that I pay attention, you kind of look like him.”

“Look like who?”

“...” he let go of my face. “No, it couldn’t be.”

Exactly!

He still felt dangerous, watching the sun fall as he smoked and smoked through a packet. Is he in a bad mood? He doesn’t really look upset... I didn’t know _kkangpae_ had nightmares where they’re villains in other people’s nightmares.

It turned out for the best, in the end – Hyung called for an office dinner at Casablanca. It was weird, because Jiho wasn’t there and couldn’t make it – extra exams suck when you don’t have the memory of we foxes!

Of course, there was that bit where Hyung nearly beat me up again... I hope he didn’t take that the wrong way... but they brought me along!

If only I’d know...

At any rate, Casablanca served fancy appetisers and expensive liquor beyond my means!

Only, I had to sit next to Hyung. And Sangchul- _hyungnim_ was already in another world, so I ended up being pushed by all the brothers next to Hyung... wipe that sneer off your pretty-boy face! I’m not too hot about sitting next to you either! From experience, it’s best never to sit next to the person picking up the tab. Why? Because you can’t eat like a pig knowing that he’s right there. Pot-luck parties were the exception because everyone brought something.

“What’s with that nibbling?” Hyung demanded a few minutes later. “Eat!”

“Hyungnim? Well, I don’t wanna overdo it... ‘cause, I’m not paying-”

“Don’t worry about it. Stuff your pie-hole like you always do.” A puff of smoke drifted from his lips, much like sometimes I’d blow rings of goblin-fire for fun. “My pockets aren’t as shallow as yours.”

So I’m poor, you got a problem with that?! Fine, I’ll just do my best to empty those deep pockets of yours!

And it’s so good...

Casablanca would have been perfect for normal men. Unfortunately, I’m not only competing with women for the _yang_ essence of human men, I’m not even into women. If I ever managed to master the sex-change magic, I’d really be an enemy of women... better not. Jogae- _nuna_ will kill me.

I was so stuffed, I barely noticed when everyone started backing away from a drunk Hyung.

“My teeth... they tingle...”

That’s why I was standing in the direct line of fire when that bastard went all vampire on my ass.

“Oww!~I said, it hurts! If teeth tingle, go see a dentist! Why bite someone?!”

Then he moved to my lips, and the mood suddenly turned erotic.

“Oh, I get it. This is why you all wanted me to tag along, was it?!”

* * *

“He drew blood, Jogae- _nuna_!” I complained to Jogae- _nuna_. “At least his energy’s enough to fix it... but I really need practice with _dokkaebibul_. 2 Please?”

“So you want to fight off the guy who’s been unwittingly giving you free energy?” Jogae-nuna licked her lips. “I gave you that _beolddeokju_ to increase your collecting capacity. You’ll need a lot of stamina to keep up with him.”

“If Hyung dies while I’m in the office, the first one to get a _dongti_ will be me!”

“It’s not like they care,” Jogae- _nuna_ dismissed.

“What if an exorcist comes after me?! Those justice-types who hates demons are crazy!”

“Ewon.” Jogae-nuna continued eating neatly. “After the _misin tapa undong_ ,3 none of the traditional gods are in any shape to cast really effective _dongti_. Well, the 19 th and 20th centuries was tough on everyone, but five centuries of _mu_ being killed kind of sets a lousy precedent. For gods that feed on human belief, it’s possibly the worst thing to happen when all the trained shamans are killed horribly.”

“That’s wrong, _Nunim_ ,” Mi-Suk frowned. “There’s like, cultural preservation, right?4”

“ _Nunim_...” I started to complain.

“...ah. I forgot.”

“ _Nunim_....!”

Jogae-nuna finished eating. “Does it matter anyway? He’s just human. Humans die.”

* * *

_**1 Beolddeokju is a rice wine infused with herbal medicines and sweetened with pumpkin malt that is believed to increase male stamina. The bottles are often sold topped with a ceramic penis with a smiling face.** _

 

_**2 Korean word for Ghost Light/Will o’ wisp/Foxfire** _

_**3 The "movement to destroy the worship of gods" (misin tapa undong, also "to defeat the worship of gods"), also described as "movement to destroy superstition", as 미신 misin is often translated after the movement, comprises a series of waves of "demonisation" and forceful eradication of Korean shamanism, folk religion, and mythology that took place in the period between the late 19th century and the 1980s. It started in the 1890s with the rise of influence of Protestant missionaries, and culminated with the “gods' worship destruction movement” that formed within the New Community Movement of the 20th century, in South Korea, which physically destroyed most of the indigenous cults, which were replaced by Christianity.** _

_**4 Since the 1980s the traditional religion and shamans have experienced a modest revival in South Korea in the name of national sentiment. Since the 1990s shamans started to be regarded as "bearers of culture". Only in the most recent times the traditional religion of Korea has come to be recognised as a legitimate "religion" (Mugyo, Muism, the "mu-religion), and the notion of shamanism as the original religion of the Koreans is now pervasive.** _


	5. 四: ䷄ – Attending

My age on my ID card is 23.

My actual age is somewhere... there were still kings, and people on horses, and not a lot of cities.

I don’t remember.

Sometimes, though, in the deepest of my dreams, maybe I’d projected my spirit out. There I was a fox – an ordinary fox. I’d got my leg caught in a trap. There was a battle coming, all the spirits of the forests and mountains had warned. A battle at this very valley, between Koreans who professed to be different despite being of the same species.

There was a nice smell of burning wood, very fragrant, and then the trap was removed.

“A fox, huh.” a terse voice would tell me, fiddling with the object that humans called a bow – a weapon. “Go, wily fox, and remember not to kill people.”

What he spoke was different from what you and I spoke. But I understood, and I escaped.

My wound healed with time, but he was gone when I went back to the riverbank. I practised, and practised, and I gained a human form. But then the city had been walled, and I could only stare in disbelief at the wooden buildings. I couldn’t burn them; I couldn’t harm the humans that lived there.

I spent my time on and off as a human. I went there, and there was a field where the forest had been. I waited, and waited, and around me the humans conquered and built. A small building stood where the tree and the trap had been now.

There, I met Jogae- _nuna_... well, at that time she was Jogae- _hyung_.

“Now, what’s a little fox like you doing?” He’d knelt in front me of and asked, a man to a fox.

I yipped a reply, telling her about the fragrant man and his bow.

“That was a Hwarang from Silla, before Silla unified this place. It’s been almost fifteen hundred years since then.”

Fifteen hundred years?

“Your human is dead.”

That... that can’t be.

“But, if you hope to help him, what can a fox do in this time?” A warm hand was extended to me.

“I represent Yokwe, a group of creatures like yourself,” Jogae- _hyungnim_ had said. “Come with me, and I will teach you to be human.”

I learnt how to be human – faking documents, acting, eating, morals. The hard part, I found, wasn’t simply learning – I could learn modern Korean just fine.

The hardest part, was that I’d met the most handsome guy in my entire life in the Bae-Hyun Elementary School where my forest had been.

* * *

A thousand years would have been enough for me to reach _gumiho_ status already. However, since I didn’t eat people, my growth was somewhat stunted. I was a _samiho_ with the power of a _gumiho_ , with all the limitations that implied. At least, by living through the Korean school system and slowly adjusting my age, I’d gotten a solid human identity and the driving skills needed to be a valet attendant, which was how I could drive Sangchul- _hyung_ and Hyung back to Hyung’s house.

I’d known that the human world was unfair. But can someone please tell me, how can a small-time loan shark afford a luxurious apartment over forty _pyung_? It’s not like he’s from a _jaebol_ family! How much did he embezzle from this country?!

At least I met the big boss of Saehan C&M Assets Management, Lee Gun-Woong. For an old human being, he still held an aura of intimidation. Even if I got a wild picture when he showed me the Hugo Boss leather jacket he’d bought for Hyung, because the big boss thinks we’re lovers.

Damn you, Eun Mookyul! Tonight I’ll cook up a curse to give you bad dreams! …Wait, if I do that, I won’t have enough magic to last!

“Anyway, what kind of CEO gives his employees custom-made clothes seasonally, a building, a luxurious apartment, and comes unannounced in the middle of the night (with his own key)?!” I complained later to Sangchul- _hyung_. “If that’s how it is, then I wanna become part of the family!”

Sangchul- _hyung_ gave a short laugh. “Well, our boss has been with him since he was a child...”

“Huh? Does this mean they’re actually...”

“Don’t ask me that,” Sangchul- _hyung_ turned away, adjusting the sunglasses he always wore. “I’ve been with our boss for 6 years and I’m still not sure. What I’m sure, is that he receives special treatment from the president. Boss says it’s because he’s going to be the successor.”

“How can you believe what that lazy-ass says?” I huffed. “Maybe it’s just me-” or the pheromones I smelled off the old guy – “but I get the feeling that their relationship is more than professional. But, our boss sure is popular! Even the Killer Bear said that he wanted to hit on Boss before...”

“What?!” I’d succeeded in shocking Sangchul-hyung. “He _said_ that?!”

“Yep. What is our boss, an idol in the _Geondal_?!”

“Maybe...”

I’d neglected to mention Byungsoo the homophobe’s problem. Anyway, it’s not _my_ problem. If Byungsoo got evil enough, I’d eat his liver.

* * *

The next day was one of too many misunderstandings. Why do humans always feel the need to make up stuff?

First, Dohoon thought I’d had a wild night. I wish.

Second, Jiho told me I was a lustful pig and that Mookyul should’ve beaten the crap out of me. And this bite was from his boyfriend!

Finally, I’d arrived to see Hyung wearing the Hugo Boss leather jacket in the coldest time the office AC had ever run, at the height of summer. And then Boss kept glaring at me when he ripped my band-aid off.

“You say you don’t want to betray your feelings towards Jiho, but here you are, getting around. I knew you were all talk.”

This guy...!!! He’s standing there with his angry smirk and accusing _me_!

“Who d’you think did this to me?! You bit me so hard that you broke skin and that’s all you can say?! It was YOU! You did this to me last night, when we had that office dinner!”

Eun Mookyul’s stunned face: priceless. “Bullshit! When did I...”

“D’you know what I had to go through this morning because of this?!” I continued. “Why d’you drink at all, if you can’t hold your liquor?! What if you kill someone?! Are you going to turn a blind eye too?! Even Jiho thinks-”

* * *

“So he put his hand over my mouth when he’s asking the others,” I detailed to Yokwe during our weekly get-togethers. “And then I bit him, and I used Sangchul-hyung as a shield from Hyung.”

Mi-Suk spoke first. “It’s like elementary school boys fighting.”

“Oi!”

“So that’s... workplace relations,” Jogae- _nuna_ wiped her brow. “Who wants to talk about school relations?”

Human relations on a whole was a tough topic, mainly because very few of us ever managed to form meaningful human relations. Eunwol, the poor kid, was now talking about how he creeps out some of the kids in his school.

Poor kid, drowning so early in life and yet still can’t go back...

“We all have certain common points we share in a human workplace,” Jogae- _nuna_ elaborated, the better to give us structure in our lives. “Food preferences, behaviour, lousy bosses, they all appear. Killing them is not always an option, but we should keep in mind that being discovered is a short slope to certain death for us. Keeping our secret safe from humans in the workplace is one thing, but how about the home? How about making friends?! We will always have to navigate the boundaries of secrecy. Then, let’s talk about near-discoveries of secrets.”

With a small smile, she began to elaborate further: “It might seem unbelievable, but adult humans are easier to fool than normal humans. That is, they can rationalise what they see, and ignore what they cannot see. The humans’ Enlightenment has also brought ignorance down upon them and their society on a whole; when faced with the extraordinary, they ignore it now. And you can pass off a surprising number of things as a movie prop or a scientific phenomenon, or a really good costume. That’s one of the best things you youngsters have!”

Uhm, Jogae-nuna... little hints like that just show your age, you know.

“With that said, these tricks don’t work too well on human children because they haven’t been socialised into it,” Jogae-nuna added. “Which is why we always have to be careful around children! And animals, but nowadays they’re fewer animals to draw attention.”

Yes, Jogae-nuna. I know... that was how I got into guys the first time.

“So, aside from Eunwol’s story – and he’s a brave boy for telling us – I’m going to relate the story of Hanako-san in Japan,” Jogae-nuna added. “Hanako-san has haunted school bathrooms ever since the end of the human great war, so she’s seen humans come and go. So, whenever a student runs out of toilet paper, she’ll ask if they want red or blue paper. She’s so nice.”

“Uh, Jogae-unni,” Chae-won raised her hand. She was a _bulyeowoo_ like me, a fox more than a hundred years old who could disguise herself as a woman. “You’re talking about a different urban legend.”

“Was I?” Jogae-nuna frowned. “Well, the array of choices still didn’t seem to endear her to the humans, but she’s found great friends now with Kuchisake-Onna and Teketeke.”

“I...” I started slowly, “I have a story too. See, it turns out that I’d met my Boss before... in elementary school.”

* * *

I’d lied to Eun Mookyul that I’d went to Dae-Il Elementary. After all, he’d just woken from a bad dream, and he was liable to kill people. I might be a _samiho_ , but I preferred not getting punched, so there!

I wished I hadn’t asked, but I asked anyway then. “What kind of bad dream did you have?”

“...” Hyung sighed. “’t were a dream about some crazy fuck trying to grab my jewels.”

I can see why he’s agitated!

“Well, it’s not really a dream,” Hyung continued. “There was this one tall kid that tried to jump me in elementary school. I think it was then,” he added.

The older brothers at the company office had laughed. I wasn’t sharing in their humour. I was, in fact, trembling.

“You, sir?”

“Is he still alive, sir?”

“I’m not sure...”

“B- Boss?” I stuttered. “M- May I ask, which elementary school you graduated from?”

“I quit after three days so I don’t remember.” He sounded frustrated. I guess he must really want revenge, huh...

“Do you at least remember where it was?”

“...” Instead of brushing off my question, Hyung actually gave it deep thought. “I think it was on the north side of the city...”

“B- Bae-Hyun Elementary, maybe?”

“That sounds familiar, so that must be it.” His admission tore my heart out metaphorically. Then he grew more alert. “Wait! How do you know that school?”

“B- Boss? Well, I- I have a friend that went there.” I turned away as his glare deepened. “A- Anyway, that person must’ve been really crazy.”

* * *

“I managed to fob him off by asking about his education status, but how can this be?!” I complained to the rest of the group. “Who knew, I was that crazy fucker that tried to jump him?!”

They laughed at me.

“Was it a feeding frenzy?” Jogae-nuna, at least, had the grace to try and look sympathetic. “It’s not funny when you get those urges for the first time. The early-onset puberty of children is persistent, and dangerous. After all, a big body doesn’t equal an increase in mental or emotional capacity.”

I looked away from Jogae-nuna’s luminous eyes to the ground. “Yes, Jogae-nuna.”

“But you sure have a lot of stories about your boss, Ewon,” she added. “Do you need more _beolddeokju_?”

“NO, NUNIM!”


	6. 五: ䷅ – Arguing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “The Chinese call it _yuánfèn_ – from them we derive the Korean yeonbun. The Japanese, _hitsuzen_. In the Western seas, they call it _synchronicity_ , but the difference is that two events only seem to be meaningfully related to the Europeans,” Jogae-nuna elaborated. “Two people meeting is also a type of destiny, none which nothing can separate. That is the true pitfall of our interactions with humans; that the light and the dark will remain inextricably connected, at which point no one can ever tear them apart.”

I don’t have many fond memories of my childhood. I do, however, remember that day. After all, that was the same day that I met the most handsome guy of my life and also received the worst beating of my (human) life.

My own mother had tossed me out millennia ago as a male fox had it significantly harder to reach _bulyeowoo_ status, much less _gumiho_ status. My education was also restricted to old ladies.

As a _samiho_ masquerading as a child, I was thus one of those that craved attention. Despite my height and good looks (according to me), I was never that popular in elementary school, and that bothered me. Therefore, I did anything and everything that made me stand out – to no avail, I might add. So one day, I accidentally kissed Woo-Hyuk and ate some of his energy. That got me attention – no matter how ridiculous or dangerous it was.

Despite its dangers, I practically did that every year since it got me the attention I wanted. I got famous for it too! I had a fan club back then!

Time flew like that, until one day in sixth grade, after I’d missed two days of school because of flu, I found a transfer student who must’ve been one of the three most handsome I’d ever seen in my life – the others were an older Mookyul, and the Hwarang from so long ago who’d given me a reason to be human for.

Anyway, for the first time, I actually wanted to kiss a boy – and not for the attention either. That may also have been the day I met my first true love. I might also note that the other world has no concept of gender, so him being a buy didn’t really matter – except for the mechanics, but yeah... this was _elementary_ _school_.

Unfortunately, life wasn’t so easy for this poor samiho as we’d like it to be. As I missed, and we both fell, thanks to his quick reflexes.

“ _You bastard! get off of me!”_

“ _S- Sorry!”_

How could that pretty mouth utter such harsh words? Such a waste...

So in my shock, I accidentally grabbed his balls and-

“ _Son of a bitch!_ ”

In the end, I received the beating of my life. What happened after that... I can’t remember?! Too much physical trauma?!

Basically, the first and second most handsome person I’d ever met in my (human) life happen to be the same. That can only mean, that he was the one who gave me the beating of my life.

And, as I hear him verbally abusing the staff again, I promise to myself to forever keep this a secret. Even if, maybe, he could tell me why I’d wait on the steps of Bae-Hyun Elementary sometimes, as if... as if I was waiting for that Hwarang from Silla to pass by again.

* * *

“Discovering Hyung’s past intersecting in my own was kinda scary, but not as scary as being accused with AIDS,” I was talking again in our support group meetings. “It’s like being caught with leprosy or smallpox drawn out over ten years.”

“True,” one of the others _dokkaebi_ nodded.

“Coincidental meeting...” Mi-Suk pronounced. “But to us supernatural creatures, sometimes even a chance meeting can become inevitable.”

“The Chinese call it _yuánfèn –_ from them we derive the Korean _yeonbun_. The Japanese, _hitsuzen_. In the Western seas, they call it synchronicity, but the difference is that two events only seem to be meaningfully related to the Europeans,” Jogae-nuna elaborated. “Two people meeting is also a type of destiny, none which nothing can separate. That is the true pitfall of our interactions with humans; that the light and the dark will remain inextricably connected, at which point no one can ever tear them apart.”

She drew a breath then. “Well, then, in case of discovery, let’s review the KISS steps, especially step two and three.”

“Jogae-nuna’s so nice,” I heard Chae-won murmured to Mi-Suk.

Jogae-nuna wasn’t being nice. The KISS steps for a member of Yokwe when being revealed were:

_Keep calm_

_Inhumation (Kill the human)_

_Sodium Hydroxide (Dissolve the body)_

_Sanitation (Crime scene clean-up)_

We cannot be revealed. We will not be revealed.

* * *

Because I was a _bulyeowoo_ at heart, I’d turned a deliberate blind eye to Byungsoo’s attempt at embezzling the company. One day his homophobia would turn him violent, at which point he’d have an _accident_ and disappear. I’d even help him along by burning his body to ashes.

All the chores had finally been done, and I was studying for an open book test. I’d say this first, though; Jogae-nuna’s method of studying smarter and not harder works better than all the private tutoring in Seoul. I had barely been able to afford studying and working at the same time through the whole of my education after middle school if not for her help. But she’d ingrained good study habits into me – I think she’d learnt after the horror stories I’d heard about her godson – and so I was studying even for the tricky open-book tests. If you’re giving us the book to tote in class, humans, at least give us the time to read the damn thing too!

Anyway, I’d finally cleared all the chores, served all the drinks and snacks, and even Hyung was being quiet, so I set about to studying. The guys were nice enough to turn the TV off as well, so I was able to clear up quite a bit on the concept of migration and its ties to the global political economy- yeah, I got the concept down.

I’ll just have to call Jogae-nuna later for some examples rooted to real life. Jogae-nuna is really an example of the kind of entity I wanted to be; smart, beautiful and accomplished in both the material world and the other world. She’s even continuing education overseas! Granted, she’s probably already packed away a number of degrees over the years, but the fact that even a three-thousand-year-old _youkai_ knew the value of education simply warms the heart.

“I finished early thanks to you guys,” I smiled at everyone. “I’ll cook dinner for you as well if I test well!”

“If my son was half as good as you, I wouldn’t complain.”

“Oh, stop.”

Hyung seemed agitated for some reason. I was almost expecting some demonic aura. The demonic aura came when another guy ran into the office.

“Byungsoo disappeared with your money, Hyungnim.”

There went all that harmony.

“What...?!”

“I think he co-signed for his girlfriend’s debt. However, considering the amount of money she owed...”

“So my account is-”

“Close to a million dollars you had in the account is gone, Hyungnim.”

The account. The one that computes only in USD. How much was that debt again?

“That thieving son of a bitch!” I jumped as the table suffered a dent for being in Hyung’s warpath. He was definitely pissed off and ready to dish out a beating.

“Wait...” I flinched as the eyes of a beast flickered in his face. “Something’s not right here. Now that I think about it... you delegated your accounting duties right before he took off with the money. Besides, didn’t you say you had plenty of free time when the tests are over?”

“Er, Hyung-”

“Are you in this too?” He demanded. “”How much did he say he’ll give you?”

“N- No-”

“If you have something in your defence, say it now...” he growled, reaching over towards me. “...because my patience is wearing thin.”

I believed him. My hackles were up, ready for flight or fight. You’d notice the order of my words that I tend to rank flight higher than fight, though as a _samiho_ it’d really take a lot for humans to kill me.

Hyung hesitated when his hand was around my teeth, though. He looked at my mouth, and then at the very prominent bite mark on his hand. His hand moved away gingerly with much less enthusiasm. Sangchul-hyung stepped in for me, luckily. Otherwise I had no idea what I’d do. But, his back seemed like the best place to be right now.

“I’m sure that Ewon’s not involved, Hyungnim.”

“How d’you know that?”

“If he really wanted the money, he would’ve stolen it a long time ago.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Hyung bitterly replied with a little smirk that still made my heart throb. “After all, how am I to understand the mind of a human being?”

I’m not a human being! If it would help my case, I would scream it. However, the universally bad reputation of _gumiho_ meant that I’d just as soon be punched in the face or chased out with knives before I could talk. Or yip.

“If that’s the case, Byungsoo will try to contact him,” Sangchul-hyung replied. “We can find out once and for all by keeping him here until we catch Byungsoo. We’re tracking down his license plate. I’m sure we’ll catch him soon, Hyungnim.”

Byungsoo would never contact me, homophobe that he is.

A moment of silence, as Hyung thought about it. “...if it turns out that you two plotted this together, I’ll bury you both.”

I heaved a sigh of relief as Hyung stomped away. “Sangchul-”

Sangchul-hyung grabbed my shoulders. “Are you sure you had nothing to do with this?!” Everything came out in a stage whisper. “If you know something, tell me now!!!!!”

“I- I don’t know anything!”

“You being honest?!”

“Yes. He said he wanted to take care of the account this month, and with exams...” I shrugged. “I let him.”

“Good.” Sangchul-hyung sighed. “That’s a relief. Leave your cellphone with me for now.”

“Yes...”

“Don’t worry,” Sangchul-hyung tried to lie. “I’m sure he had no intentions of hurting you-” LIE! “-that’s why I stepped in. Besides, he would’ve donned his gloves first if he was going to do something. After that, it’s all over. If he wraps his watch around his fist, you might as well find a nice burial ground.”

“Sangchul-hyung...” I wanted to cry. Byungsoo was an idiot! If Hyungnim is supporting your old mother, then why betray him?! Dumbass!

“Don’t cry, dumbass...”

They’d found Byungsoo later. They’d also left me with Sung-tae-hyung in the office. And by they, I meant Sangchul-hyung, who really managed everything when Hyung wasn’t in the mood to deal with anything other than violence. Sung-tae-hyung was nice enough to offer to escort me back.

“Sung-tae-hyung. What’s going to happen to Byungsoo?” I asked later.

“Don’t ask,” I was warned immediately. “You don’t want to know.”

Well, you don’t want to know some of the recipes I got from passing _gumiho_ now and then, either!

Anyway, this isn’t my fault. It’d be no use even if I tried to to stop him. He’d have done it regardless. Jogae-nuna always said that human greed was insatiable.

Except...

She’d also added that thieves tended not to show themselves when the guards had prior warning. Which meant that... technically, I hadn’t done my part as a person of society in preventing the theft, however dubious the people Byungsoo was stealing from. And... I couldn’t stop him, but I’m sure Sangchul-hyung would have talked some sense into him... but I’m a _bulyeowoo_ , and I wanted to eat him...

So... I set him up, right? And I had to fix this, right?

“Sung-tae-hyung...”

* * *

I got there in time to prevent Hyung from killing Byungsoo with his improvised knuckle-duster.

The thing is, I’d also gotten hit after shouting that I, Jung Ewon from the second class in sixth grade of Bae-Hyun Elementary, was the crazy fuck who’d grabbed his balls in elementary school.

At least he didn’t use the hand with the watch!

...yeah, I know. Not great.

But hey, Byungsoo owes me now!

...He just called me a fag again. I should’ve let Mookyul kill him.

Shit, how do I escape Hyung later?! Oww... Will I get a concussion?

Sangchul-hyung had left my phone with me. With shaking hands, I dialled a string of numbers. Surprisingly, it picked up – Jogae-nuna must’ve gotten someone to teach her about a handphone at last.

“ _Gang Jogae_.”

“Nuna...” I breathed. “Jogae-nuna, I hit my head.”

“ _..._ _Do I need to clean up?_ ” It was phrased as a question, not a statement. “ _Where are you, Ewon?_ ”

I gave her the location and hung up, waiting. Of course, Jogae-nuna would have to charge me if the injury got serious enough. This was a job for her, sometimes cleaning up after young _gwishin_ , sometimes handling unruly _yokwe_. Jogae-nuna might be doing this out of obligation. Just like I sometimes turned into a fox to wait at Bae-Hyun Elementary, avoiding the nasty teachers and the students and their ever-changing faces. But you know... she helped. Me. A lot.

I would never admit it to Jogae-nuna. It was silly. It may have been a sweet delusion that passed away like fragrant dust, but,...

…

..

.

…I thought that he would come back, you know.

My flower man.


	7. 六: ䷆ – Leading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I would’ve expended all my magic just on the off chance that Hyung wouldn’t catch me, but it was too late, I got caught, he wants revenge...
> 
> “...and that’s how I ended up going on a date tomorrow,” I pleaded to Jogae-nuna after I’d managed to find a safe place to project my spirit out.

I would’ve expended all my magic just on the off chance that Hyung wouldn’t catch me, but it was too late, I got caught, he wants revenge...

“...and that’s how I ended up going on a date tomorrow,” I pleaded to Jogae-nuna after I’d managed to find a safe place to project my spirit out. The thing is, a lot of the rituals and magics I’d learned typically revolved around cursing humans, and there were few shamans who’d look positively on the idea of a _samiho_ going out with a human. Added the fact that up to five hundred years of Neo-Confucian persecution, two centuries of Japanese religion and the rise of Christianity, _plus_ the fact that there were few volumes of magic that dealt with anything but prayers, and I was a bit stuck about the Hyung situation.

So I’d projected my spirit once I got home to find Jogae-nuna in the otherworld. Distance and time really meant very little there, which meant that I’d found her once I figured out what I was looking for; the vast pool of her presence within the South China Sea was a dead give-away.

“Now what do I do?”

“You suck!” I complained later when Jogae-nuna showed no sign of abating her laughter. Instead of the designer clothes she usually wore to our pot-lucks, this time she was kitted out in those ancient Chinese silk dresses, the kind that comes with gold and silver thread. Pearls hung in her hair, each of them the size of half my pinky but made up for their lack of size by their numbers.

Jogae-nuna’s eyes flashed, like light reflecting off the underside of an abalone shell. Slowly, her laughter ceased. “You think it’s-”

She raised her pinky finger.

“Yes.”

“Well, there’s no way you’re going to know outside of visiting his dreams, are you?”

“I don’t want to, Jogae-nuna!”

“Well, if you don’t want to go out with him then cast a curse. You can assemble a minor cold, right?”

“That’s even worse! That Eun Mookyul has a constitution like iron!” I complained. “Jogae-nuna, could you please give me an explosive talisman just in case?”

Jogae-nuna had given me a spiritual pat on the head and sent me back into my body. Looking at her smile when she’d cast the spell to return me, though, she was probably looking forward to details about the... the...

Jogae-nuna, I’d really like that explosive talisman right now...

* * *

When someone buys you expensive clothes from Armani, takes out out to a restaurant and hints all the time that they’re going to start going out with someone _other_ than their prior lovers, it’s obvious what’s going to happen. At least, according to whatever TV drama kick Jogae-nuna would get up to. The _hallyu_ wave has good and bad points, after all.

No one treats another for dinner as a demand for compensation. Even if the food is good. You know, I was sure this was Part 2 of the beating, but this is totally _different_. However, I was very clear on one thing:

I can’t kill this guy.

Which means that I can’t have sex with him.

I’d heard amongst the _bulyeowoo_ about acceptable targets before. Humans grouped together for security; hence, predatory spirits needed to figure out which people wouldn’t be missed and which people wouldn’t trigger a manhunt. It’s that principle that puts the scope of targets away from royals, _yangmin_ and the _chungin_ back when Korea still had a king. See, when you have a highly stratified society, it’s easier to feed off those lower down the pecking order who wouldn’t be missed or whose disappearances could be easily explained away.

Except for the _mu_. Shamans were a pain to deal with, but the humans were stupid enough to kill their own protectors now and then, which meant that they were never much of a threat because they were too busy trying not to get horribly tortured and killed.

You never hear about the smart ones. The ones who have folktales told about them were the stupid ones, the arrogant ones, the ones just seeking attention, and the ones who had very visible divine retribution wrought upon them. Lots of _gumiho_ were smart enough to wander around, case the targets, and practice until they’d refined all nine tails and reached the status of immortals. They’d also been smart enough to transform mostly to female forms, which is more socially acceptable to access _yang_ essence.

Having mixed religions in a country just made things muddier... for humans, that is. In Japan, they say that you pray Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist, and they still have plenty of _youkai_ running around their dinky little island chain.

The real threat to us _yokwe_ and _gwishin_ , therefore, was if we accidentally killed people who had other people to report to the authorities, who would then start a massive hunt. Eun Mookyul was one such person.

I can’t kill this guy.

Which means that I can’t have sex with him.

Man, this is my life.

* * *

My life is getting harder to live.

We’re still at the dinner table, and he’s telling me I have a baby face.

And it’s so irritating that I can’t punch him in the face and expect it to hurt, because I’ve physically weaker than most foxes my age. He has a very punchable face. It has glittering eyes and a high nose bridge and great cheekbones...

What am I saying? I can’t do it. His face is too handsome to destroy. Gods, please forgive this fox for even thinking about it.

“Don’t you have something to say to me?” The most handsome man I’ve ever met in my life spoke.

“Ah...” I coughed to clear my throat. I didn’t understand why, but Jogae-nuna said that it’s to clear blockages. “I sincerely apologise for any undue pain I’ve caused you as a child. I assure you it was unintentional-”

“I’m not talking about that.”

“Then what?”

He twitched. I could see the demonic aura gathering around him, which shouldn’t actually be possible...! “You seriously _don’t_ remember?”

I don’t like the way this is going... “O- Of course. I remember everything.” Please let my lie pass for once-

A cigarette died an ignoble death by crushing. “Do you often tell people you’ll wait for them?”

“Eh? To friends, I do...”

“Do you even tell them you’ll wait until they come back?”

The only one I remember promising that was the flower man, and _he’s_ dead. “W- Well, it gives people sort of a warm feeling.”

His eyes narrowed, and he gave a scoff. “Well, ain’t this a bitch?”

“...?” I tilted my head as he got up.

“If you’re done, follow me. We’re going up.”

“Going up where?”

“Don’t try to act naïve. Why else would I buy you dinner and nice clothes? I’m going to sleep with you.”

In any other situation it’d be very welcome, because I’ll make sure to kill you and scatter your soul across the mountains. Well, in any other case it’d be very welcome, I can probably eat all I like and it’d barely make a dent in Hyung’s vitality, and he’ll get his entertainment, and it’d harm nothing but my pride.

But pride is paramount among foxes as well... even if I don’t see foxes that often.

But while I was weighing all of these factors and wondering if such actions was weighing against my human-ness, Hyung had already grabbed my arm and was dragging me along with strength that only people who _aren’t_ human could break.

“Ah, Hyungnim! Wait! As I told you before, I-”

“Don’t even think about using Jiho as an excuse,” he tossed absently. “Who in their right mind would continue to work for someone who’s fucking around with his ex? I’ll find out what exactly went on between you two later, but you’re first.”

“Wait a moment, Hyungnim!” I spoke in alarm. “Jiho had nothing to do with any of this! It was all my-” My brain luckily managed to cut myself off, because if he were to find out that Jiho’s been using him purely out of revenge on me, then Jiho would surely be beaten up. Jiho didn’t even have my constitution, which, even if it’s kinda frail, had the vitality of a _samiho_.

“Because of what?” Hyung demanded.

“B- Because I’d practically stalked him before,” I finished lamely. “Obviously Jiho got tired of it so...”

“Fine,” Hyung acknowledged, “If you really cared about Jiho enough to follow him around, then how come you’re OK with him fooling around with me?”

Because I’d already cast three curses of constipation at his direction, and any more he’s going to sense something. But I can’t tell you that!

“I was so dumbfounded by your indifference that I purposely kissed him in front of you once,” Hyung continued to describe the exact essence of many office indiscretions. “However, you didn’t even bat an eyelid let alone complain. Instead, you chatted with the others as if nothing happened. With that out, how can you stand there and tell me you won’t sleep with me because of your feelings for Jiho? Do you honestly expect me to believe that bullshit?”

“No! Hyungnim, you’ve got it all wrong- what?!” I was cut off as he grabbed my collar.

“I know for a fact that you got around long before Jiho,” Hyung hissed into my face. “So stop pissing me off and follow me.”

Every single instinct, even the wild ones I’d had to set aside to survive in human society, was screaming at me to get away. “You can have the clothes back! I’ll pay you back for the dinner tomorrow as well, satisfied?!”

“Why you little-!”

“No means no, even if you don’t think so!” I was really desperate to do this as a human. “I can’t possibly do it with you! Must I repeat what I said before?!”

“You’re more than happy to sleep around with others, but you won’t sleep with me?!” He scoffed as he let go of my collar to grab something in his wallet. “Man, you’re one picky whore. Fine, then I’ll give you even more of an incentive.”

I haven’t felt such rage in twenty-three years of human life than when I saw the slim back card twined between two elegant fingers. Not even during the beating of my life. In Taoism, rage fed into hate like how wood fed the strength of a fire. Even the sparks of irritation I’d just brushed aside, but now... I couldn’t hear his words over my rage. Yeah, I think...

...just once...

“Ow fuck!” He’d dropped the card. It was smoking, giving off the acrid smell of burnt plastic and metal. The horrible smell snapped me back to my senses

Crap. Shit. Fuck.

I turned tail and ran. Even if I don’t look it, even if I’m herbivorous compared to other _bulyeowoo_ , I’m still a _samiho_. Normal foxes can run at fifty kph at full acceleration. So the fact that Hyung caught up to me could only be attributed to the flying tackle needed to get me down to the floor.

“Why you-!”

“Let go!” I scratched and slapped at him. “I said, _let go_! Do you even know what ‘whore’ and ‘incentive’ mean, _Hyungnim_?! Or did you forget to learn after so many years where and when to use them?!!”

“What did you say?!” He’d shouted, which gave me wiggle room as the two of us got back to our feet.

“Think about what you just said to me!” Yes, please do, ignore your credit card bursting into flames, please.

“Then you shouldn’t have pissed me off!”

“What did I do to piss you off?!”

“What the fuck d’you want me to do?!” He roared back, making me wince at the volume. “What, are you a girl? Do I have to wait months just to hold your hand?! It’s not like you’re going to fucking get pregnant! Why do you always reject me again and again?!”

I was hopelessly dumbfounded. Where do these relentlessly audacious people come from?!

“Maybe you’re not getting it...” I laughed. “YOU DUMB, PRETENTIOUS GANGSTER FUCK! OF ALL PEOPLE, I DESPISE YOU THE MOST! WHAT, DID YOU EXPECT ALL MEN TO BLINDLY FOLLOW YOU? I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU IF IT WEREN’T FOR JIHO! I WOULDN’T SLEEP WITH YOU EVEN IF YOU OFFERED ME TWO MILLION! NOT EVEN IF YOU WERE THE LAST GUY ON EARTH! GOT IT, YOU DESPICABLE SON OF A BITCH?!”

I’m so proud of settling my fights like a human with words. It would’ve worked better if I didn’t also accidentally set Hyung’s tie on fire. So I floored it while he was still stunned by the errand boy yelling at him.

“Hey, come back here!”

Hell no! Do I look stupid?! I ran out of the hotel, a really, really long way, dodged a few cars and ducked through a few alleys before I finally caved to the instinct to burrow and hide.

* * *

“So I’d boarded a bus that went near my place before I started laughing,” I said to my group when we met later that night. I’d deemed it safe because... well, there was no way Hyung was going to find Jogae-nuna’s place. “And I’d thought that felt so good, and people like him really need to be taught a lesson. But then... I realised he knew where I lived...”

“Poor Ewon,” Mi-Suk gave a fake sniff. “I’ll go down to the Yellow Springs to taste your food...”

“Don’t bury me just yet!” I exclaimed. “Jogae-nuna, what am I going to do about tomorrow?!”

This time, Jogae-nuna looked very... well, the face she’d drawn on was one of unremarkable prettiness, the usual face I saw her with (though she was a demon strong enough to draw her own faces at will; I was used to recognising her by aura).

This time, it was caked in makeup truly an inch thick, until it could become a mask if baked in a kiln and transforming her into a mature woman. She’d arrived in a classic black Chanel dress with a halter-neck collar, in contrast to the usually smart-casual look. Pearls hung from a truly fearsome woven triple-string bracelet on her left wrist and her ears, and a pink pearl glimmered from an ebony hair-stick in her French bun. The outfit and jewellery were paired with black Louboutins, complete with signature red soles.

“Yes,” she agreed. “Humans are fragile. They die in an _instant_.”

She’d crushed the floor under her right heel, punctuating her last sentence. The red at the bottom of the soles looked intimidatingly like blood now, and as I watched her lift her foot, it also left streaks of red on the floor that disappeared with a wave of her hand. What the hell kind of event had she come from...?

“It would be painful to say goodbye again.” Jogae-nuna grumbled. “Our lives are too slow to live with humans, and too long to live alone. I arrived from a... meeting... where the other didn’t show.”

Half the _dokkaebi_ present heaved a sigh of relief.

“To be exact, it was an ambush,” she continued. “That bastard only hired human black-ops to kill me, no big deal. I killed them all, found the other guy, and crushed his skull under my heel as payback before tossing him into Lake Superior. That’s the last time I ever pay heed to Americans. No _class_.”

“That’s so cool, Jogae-unni!” Chae-won sighed. “I haunted the guy who betrayed my friend just by cursing his entire family with smallpox~”

“Uhm...” a _gwishin_ in our military uniform raised his hand. “I’m Yi Ji-U.”

“Hi, Ji-U,” we’d all said together. Some very patriotic _dokkaebi_ stood up and gave a salute.

He blushed. “I’m a _mong-dal-gwishin._ This is my first and final session at Yokwe. My greatest regret in this world is not getting married to the person I love before I died. Not that it was possible to marry a guy anyway.”

“Oh, that’s terrible,” I sincerely replied. The otherworld had no concept of gender; a ghost was a ghost, a monster was a monster. Even human politics meant little to the spirit world – the demilitarised zone being a hotbed for _gwishin_ being one example.

“He’d promised me to have only one male lover and one female lover in his life,” Ji-U continued. “So, I went to see Min-soo and he was already seeing a woman, Ji-hye. I was going to haunt him until he died, but then I thought. This doesn’t mean less for me, but more for Min-soo.”

Mi-Suk’s girlfriend Yu-jin sniffed. She wasn’t alone; half the people present were crying into their _gamjaguk_.

I have no regrets about dying, but I was so worried about him that I hung around some more to see him settle down.”

He sighed, and then stood up. “He’ll come to our side soon, and then we’ll go to Jiok together. Thank you for the invitation, Jogae- _halmeoni_ -”1

The stiletto heel really stood up to its name, being able to stab the parquet floor through the _gwishin’s_ boot.

“Please,” Jogae-nuna smiled, her left foot conspicuously bare from where she’d launched her designer footwear as a makeshift projectile, “call me Nuna.”

Ji-U was shaking as she strode over and pulled the shoe out. Tears of pain streamed down his face though the wound quickly repaired itself. “Y- Yes, Jogae- _nun_ _im_!”

Applause rose for Ji-U as he sank back into his chair after having told his touching story. It was nice and all, but what about surviving Eun Mookyul tomorrow?! What if he asks me about the credit card and the tie?!

* * *

_**1 Halmeoni: grandmother. Nuna is the Korean honorific used by guys to address older girls.** _


	8. 七: ䷇ – Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Man, that guy is a bastard, Nuna,” I complained after I’d related the awkward re-enactment of my breakup with Jiho again, except with his boyfriend. “He’s not only cheating on Jiho, he even said that Jiho was a stray he picked up for the hell of it!”

The next day was foreboding, and I just wanted to run. But I couldn’t run, because Hyung knows where I sleep. And, apparently he’s also the strongest fighter in the family...

Even if he’s yelling about me not giving him iced coffee right now because he scalded his tongue. How did this guy survive his conscription?1 I just got mine over and done with, since dodging is a pain. The government guys relented once they saw my bank account, though. I think my old CO just pitied me too much, which was why I served most of it as a clerk.2

Don’t tell Hyung. He’ll laugh himself sick.

All the brothers in the office had somehow left, which put me in the same room as Hyung with only Hyung’s desk between us. And the office couch. Awkward silence was punctuated by Hyung’s phone vibrating on his desk, and the steady breathing of two people. The ember of Hyung’s cigarette sizzled.

“Uhm...” I started. “May I ask what you’re thinking right now?”

“I was thinking how to devour you.”

What am I, some kind of food?!

“If it were up to me, I’d swallow you whole,” Hyung continued, “However, I don’t think that’ll work, so I was thinking maybe I should use your precious Jiho as leverage.”

I started “...!!!!” It’d been a while since I’d seen Jiho, and our separation hurt, but... I _am_ a _samiho_. I survive on eating humans. What Jiho wanted, I could not give. Still...

“That’s nothing to a dumb, pretentious gangster fuck like me.”

How can he repeat that verbatim twice? From the first day, I’d already pegged Hyung as... as a beast. Unlike me, who had adapted to my surroundings and blended into human society, he was a beast who would rather choose death over the touch of mankind.

As a beast myself, I found it stupid. As a beast with human rationality, I envied him.

“Must you do it with me?”

In answer, the guy and his stupidly handsome face blew another plume of smoke. So what if you could smoke? I can literally breathe fire!

But this is fine, right? This is a lamb offering itself for the slaughter. I’ll just sap enough to top up my tanks, cast a memory-clouding charm over the office, and then disappear. I’ll also have to locate Jiho, but that was a secondary step. “...fine,” I pretended, starting to tug off my shirt. “You win. I don’t know what brought this on all of a sudden, but let’s just get it over with. After all, it must be hard for someone who’s remained popular for 30 years to be turned down by an ordinary guy like me.”

It felt counter-intuitive, stripping before his heated gaze. I mean, I haven’t been human for as long as Jogae-nuna, but I’d seen my fair share, and surely that wasn’t the gaze of a human.

“...promise me you’ll keep this a secret from Jiho.”

Hyung got up from his chair. I winced as his expensive suit jacket just landed on the floor, revealing the line and cut of his Yohji Yamamoto shirt. Jogae-nuna had imparted some historical anecdotes about the power of beauty, a staple amongst foxes, that I didn’t believe until I saw Hyung.

You know, in fictional stories, he’d be the _bulyeowoo_ and I’d be the normal human he falls in love with. That’s the human concept of wish fulfilment. Jogae-nuna said that humans even have proverbs for the power of the imagination. Unlike we spirits, who had the options to run away and hide forever amongst the mountains and rivers, humans had to live amongst their own kind. Even the _mu_ , the protectors of humanity, were bound to their weak bodies, powerless against their own kind with no way of accessing more outside of their society.

So the humans tell stories, they whisper amongst themselves, that justice will persevere and good will triumph. That there is something worth their short, brutal lives.

 **Wasn’t that what you were doing as well** , the voice of Jogae-nuna melted into that of Jogae-hyungnim in my heart; my conscience revamped. **Because you already knew that your flower man is dead, but you could only keep waiting** **there at the forest turned field turned school** **. The humans would have exterminated you as vermin, if not for the hand of fate. Even when you tried to find the Fields of Seocheon, even when the Hwansaengkkot was within your grasp, you couldn’t find him. Jogae-nuna gave you the impetus to enter human society for a reason**.

Cigarette smoke tickled my nose. I inhaled it in, and then blinked, because somehow Hyung was tugging at my trousers too-

“Wait- Hyungnim! You can’t take all my clothes off!” I slapped aside his hands, trying to cling onto the belt that stood as the only barrier between the ravening beast and my very technical chastity. “And you can’t make me go all the way either!”

“Shut up!” A vein throbbed in his cheek, and he’d forced a thumb into my mouth. “You owe me for that statement alone. Yet you carry on like you’re doing me a favour? I should be collecting interest on that debt. How dare you-?!”

So it worked out to French kissing on the couch, the poor couch... I gasped for sweet air once he’d finally broken off a brutal kiss in favour of my throat. “It’s not like I don’t already know you’re a thug...”

He snorted against my throat. Is he enjoying this? Actually, is he secretly a pervert? Wait, if he keeps biting- “Just don’t leave such obvious scars,” I begged.

“Yeah, right! I’ll do whatever I want. Will you...” The belt slipped from between my fingers, which let him tear open my trousers to get at his aim. “Has it been a while for you or something? You’re responding right away.”

“I’ve been forced to practice abstinence because of _someone_...”

“That’s exciting.” His growl is so sexy right next to my ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll take my time so just sit back and enjoy it.”

You mean your kissing and biting? “I knew you were a sadist.”

And this was the situation that Jiho walked into.

* * *

“Man, that guy is a _bastard_ , Nuna,” I complained after I’d related the awkward re-enactment of my breakup with Jiho again, except with his boyfriend. “He’s not only cheating on Jiho, he even said that Jiho was a stray he picked up for the hell of it!”

“Well, you’re out of there, since Jiho was your reason for being there in the first place,” Jogae-nuna commented. In this Korean BBQ place she’d sent us to after I’d fled to her Seoul apartment to escape Eun Mookyul, she’d paid a full tab of a million won for the entire meat selection. Not even the restaurant owner wanted to go against Jogae-nuna now, which meant that we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. “Now that he’s dumped Jiho, you have an out. But, it sounds like the two of you go way back.”

“I don’t remember so much about that,” I told Nuna, still coughing. “That’s what I apologised to him for. That bastard tried to _throttle_ me! If not for him getting a call I’d have thrown a fireball into his face!”

“Eat some more,” Jogae-nuna said. “You’re going to need it.”

“Eh?”

“Now that you don’t even have the chance of free handouts, I’ll exempt you from Yokwe’s weekly pot-lucks if you can do my share as well,” Jogae-nuna elaborated. “Right now my godson isn’t at home, and it’s harvest season. I’m run off of my feet, so I need the help.”

“Thanks, Nuna.” I sighed. “The scholarship settled the fees and food, so I’m good for a while... the thing is, Jiho won’t take my calls.”

“Right now, the crux of this love triangle is between Eun Mookyul and Shin Jiho,” Jogae-nuna reassured me. “Your role as the home-wrecker is complicated, but they have to settle this connection between them first. After all, when you look at it semantically, you are the agent that brought them together to begin with.”

“And... the link between Jiho and me?”

“It can be resolved,” Jogae-nuna tilted her head. “But it would not solve the ultimate problem; namely, that Shin Jiho does not have the capacity to stomach your cheating. Even if it comes with a justified reason, humans will feel jealousy. They cannot help it. That is the exclusionary feelings of animals trying to monopolise their mates.”

When Jogae-nuna put it like that, everything felt way more clear.

“I have told my godson this advice, and he has never taken it,” Jogae-nuna continued, somehow missing the fact that I was eating all the meat. “Life may be taken one step at a time. We have all the time in the world. Even if you rush around like humans and their short lives, you realise that soon you end up at the same place that you started from. You just end up hungry, thirsty, and tired. Just doing what is natural feels better.”

She sighed, picking up her chopsticks only to blink at the grill plate. “ _Ewon_! Where’s the meat?”

* * *

Without the twin chains of Jiho and Eun Mookyul, I threw myself back into replenishing. It got to the point where even humans were remarking on it.

That included my university friend, Dohoon Moon – who is way more observant than I give credit for. “Are you dating a sadistic rich man or something?” he’d said while draping himself on me. “Stop subjecting yourself to such punishment and come to me. I promise I’ll be gentle.”

I scoffed. “You crazy punk.”

He snickered. “Seriously, are you OK? If you’re having a problem...oh, Jiho!”

“Jung Ewon.”

I walked ahead as Moon hung back. I also passed by Jiho. “Moon, come along already.”

“Wait.”

I ignored him.

“I said, wait!” He reached out to grab my forearm, forcing my attention on him. “Don’t you have something to say to me?! You could at least offer an excuse!”

This guy forced me to abstinence, is unreasonably jealous when we have an open relationship, and sicced his boyfriend on me. “I don’t have anything to say,” I replied. “What you saw was exactly what it was. Happy now? Now let me go, I’m busy.”

Jiho slapped me. That... well, I’m frail for a _yokwe_ anyway.

“You bastard!” he yelled. “How could you do this to me?! Since when?” he demanded. “Since when did you and Mookyul start seeing each other?!”

“...what d’you think you’re doing?” I can’t kill him here. “Why do I deserve to be slapped by you? After all, you and I have nothing to do with each other. It’s not like we’re still dating or anything.”

I sneered at Jiho’s paling expression. If I were a fox more terrible, perhaps his emotions would be up for grabs. But this was the human way, with barbed words that had the potential to hurt more than any physical wound. “You really shouldn’t treat strangers this way. You should treat Mookyul better if you didn’t wanna lose him, instead of chasing him around like a jealous wife.”

I walked ahead. “I’m never going back to that damn office, so I hope it works out between you two.”

I’d ignored Moon’s yelling and quickly walked away, back towards the hill that I called home. I should’ve done this a long time ago. I should’ve just taken all the blame and left. Despite the guilt or regret I feel, this is the best role for a monster.

* * *

I hadn’t realised that my phone was off, which was how I missed 40 calls and 32 messages from all the brothers at the office. Should’ve known... I did leave without a word after spending most days at the office.

Forget it. I mean, how long was I going to let myself be slaved around?

Anyway, the scholarship money fed me for awhile, and Jogae-nuna’s little job would feed me some more, so I just need another part-time job for when Jogae-nuna’s was done. With that migraine somewhat settled, I prepared to go to sleep.

* * *

“My ex was crazy enough to call me late last night to witness his being beaten up by his now ex-boyfriend,” I told Yokwe the next night, while serving _pajeon_ – pancake made mostly with eggs, flour, green onion, and oysters or fresh baby clams cooked in one of Jogae-nuna’s really large woks.

It turns out that when Jogae-nuna said she was _busy_ , it was with harvesting a frightening number of cherries, peaches and strawberries for fruit confitures. Jogae-nuna’s sweet tooth is frightening to the extreme. Hence the relegation of cooking duties to me in her kitchen... in Japan.

Man, it must be great to be a _youkai_ who could just flagrantly ignore travel times, long distances and customs barriers.

“What time was it?”

“Ah, around four.”

“I see.” Chae-won gave me an impish smile.

“Anyway,” I ploughed on. “He told Mookyul that... that he was still in love with me, and that he was using Mookyul to teach me a lesson and make me jealous. So Eun Mookyul nearly hit me but didn’t, for some reason. Ah, I’m so glad, I don’t think I could have survived otherwise.”

There was a beat of silence. Mi-Suk’s chopsticks slid out of her grip and hit the floor. Then everyone started laughing.

“That’s not going to make a _samiho_ jealous!” Chae-won cackled. “We live off of sex! We make a distinction between sex and love!”

“It’s no longer a classic home-wrecking scenario!” Yu-jin’s statement cut me to the quick. “It’s the love-war set-up!”

“That hurts!” I complained at Yu-jin. “I’m not a home-wrecker!”

“Ewon... did you use charm magic?” Jogae-nuna frowned.

“No, Nuna. I haven’t used charm at all. Jiho said the same thing, you know? Why does everyone assume that it was my fault?”

Jogae-nuna frowned. “Chae-won, you don’t face this problem, but Ewon is a _bulyeowoo_ from an earlier vulpine tradition. You see, foxes in the past needed to store _yang_ energy inside their bodies, which is incompatible with their _ŭm_ nature. They could only feed on energy from humans. After prolonged feeding, the target would become weaker, fall sick, and eventually die. So, for foxes in this tradition, their lovers often always die at their hand.”

“That’s... sad,” Chae-won reflected. “But _I_ don’t need to feed on _yang_ energy, though.”

“Later foxes manage to create fox beads, known in Japan as _hoshi no tama_ – star-balls – to store the energy of the stars within it, which also stores a portion of the fox’s magical power,” Jogae-nuna continued explaining. “Chae-won, you belong to this tradition of _bulyeowoo_. By compressing your power outside of your body, you limit your own potential powers. The powers of creation become conducted through an outside intermediary – it is for this reason that the sacred foxes of the Japanese vulpine deity Inari carry their star-balls with them. And, if you lose that star-ball upon which you are now dependent upon, whoever attains it would hold power over you.”

Chae-won flinched, her hands flying to her neck.

“Scary, isn’t it?” Jogae-nuna lightly commented. “To be honest, Ewon, your problem of feeding can be partially solved if you can manage to make a fox bead. However, it will create a new problem.”

“Anyway, Jiho told me all about his big revenge plan only to dump me for good this time,” I sighed. “At least we parted on good terms.”

Mi-Suk and Yu-jin exchanged looks.

“Does he know, Jogae-unni?”

“Jogae-unni, Ewon can’t be this oblivious, right?”

Jogae-nuna’s lack of response only made everyone laugh again. Seriously, what was I missing?!

“One side of the triangle has been resolved, but... there’s still the third wheel-” Mi-Suk moved to shut her adopted son’s mouth, but it was too late.

“So, Ewon’s available now...” One of the _gaksi-dokkaebi_ whispered aloud. “There’s still his boss, the mysterious Eun Mookyul- _sajangnim_!”

“But he sounds like a beast!” Another _gaksi-dokkaebi_ squealed. “What if he’s one of us?!”

“But that won’t solve Ewon’s feeding problems,” the first goblin girl sobbed. “It’s a star-crossed romance where neither of them can ever have sex.”

“But, Jogae-unni said there was that fox bead solution, right?”

“My life is not your TV drama!” I yelled at them.

“Ewon is right,” Jogae-nuna finally intervened when a good amount of laughs had gone around. “This isn’t forum theatre.3 And we are here to share our troubles. This is Ewon’s trouble, and so we should be supportive of him and his choices.” She paused. “Even if you think he should just mesmerise and then drain that Eun Mookyul of all his energy.”

“Nuna, that’s cold.”

“We’re monsters to start with,” Jogae-nuna commented offhand. “We may live amongst humans, but groups like these are a reminder that, even if some of us used to be human, we aren’t human anymore.”

After the meeting broke up, I wandered to Bae-Hyun Elementary and stared at its concrete grounds as a fox. The reason I became human, that all started here.

“ _The bad news is, I can’t summon the spirit of that person you have been waiting for._ _The good news..._ ”

I can solve this, simply by creating a fox bead. It would probably even help me advance to four, maybe five tails. What is more scary than risking everything on the chance that someone could use it to compel me?

What is more terrifying, than putting all my bets on one person? Why was it, that my heart still seized upon that flower man so long ago?

“ _...is that_ _you no longer need to wait. H_ _e_ _will be_ _reincarnated_ _into this world_ _._ ”

Why did I become human to search for him? How would I even know? Like an inexorable rising of the tide, I could only follow the eddies of the Han River, just like, so long ago, he expired in a battle for this city.

He is here, somewhere in this city of Hanyang – Seoul.

But where is he?

* * *

_**1 In South Korea, conscription is mandatory for males 18 and above for at least two years. It is regarded as serious business to perform the service, and trying to avoid service is a serious offense and can cause any person to be imprisoned for a time. It's also seen as deeply embarrassing, which is punishment all its own.** _

 

_**2 Those in poverty (defined by Wikipedia as an income lower than 1.5 million Won and being the sole provider of income for at least 3 family members, of which at least 2 must be disabled or have an incurable disease) are exempt from conscription.** _

_**The wording is a bit weird, so I guess Ewon was exempted on the basis of really extreme poverty or something. That, or his draft didn’t come up yet, but I guess it’s not really an important factor in a 6-volume manhwa.** _

_**3 Forum theatre is a type of theatre created by Augusto Boal as part of what he calls his "Theatre of the Oppressed." Boal created forum theatre as a forum for teaching people how to change their world. In this process the actors or audience members could stop a performance, often a short scene in which a character was being oppressed in some way. The audience would suggest different actions for the actors to carry out on-stage in an attempt to change the outcome of what they were seeing. Eventually this 'simultaneous dramaturgy' became forum theatre when audience members were asked not just to suggest different actions, but to come on stage and perform their own interventions.** _


	9. 八 : ䷈ – Small Accumulating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I can’t remember what he said anymore,” I think I babbled to her in a feverish dream. “What that man said to me... I can’t remember for what reason I waited for him. Could you... tell me why? Why did I want to come here?”

It took three consecutive visits to the elementary school before Jogae-nuna wised up. She just went there to pick me up now.

“If your lovesickness is catching, I want no part of it.” Jogae-nuna told me as she dragged my pet carrier on its wheels behind her like I was so much luggage. “Ewon, why do you live on top of a mountain?”

“Cheap... lots of space... burrow...”

“I don’t know how you managed to challenge your immune system to such an extent, but lovesickness is scary,” Jogae-nuna continued to complain. “Did you even go to school today?”

I grumbled, but said nothing.

“Ewon, it’s not that I’m needling you, but you really need to get over this,” Jogae-nuna continued harping. “You only met the guy once! Even if you fell at first sight, this is overkill! Even assuming that he reincarnated – and he did, I’m sure – he won’t remember you. Even if he did, what are you? You’re just a fox.”

“And you’re just a clam,” I hissed back at her as I gave a hacking cough. “We’re both here today because we weren’t allowed to choose our fates! We weren’t content! Isn’t that why we’re here?!”

“...I do not know,” Jogae-nuna answered after a while of silence, cut with the squeaking of tiny rubber wheels. “I was never given a choice about achieving enlightenment. Rather, I was told to do so, with no other option. Nor did I ever manage to make the choice to live, over the directive my masters ordered. Even now I say that I am free, but three thousand years is a long time to build up the chains of debt.”

The carrier had stopped moving. Jogae-nuna just stood there under a street-light. The bars of the carrier made it hard to see.

“Ewon, if you’re really not happy here, go back to the mountains,” she entreated. “Don’t wait for him anymore.”

I didn’t manage to ask, because she started walking, and I heard complaints.

* * *

“Who are you people?! Where is Ewon?!”

“Who’re you?!” I heard a familiar voice saying later.

“Have you seen the young man who lives here?”

“I’m Hui Hae-Ju, a social worker,” Jogae-nuna swiftly lied, conjuring a name card quietly without fuss or extra tricks. “What are you doing, barging into Ewon’s home like this?”

Technically, Jogae-nuna haven’t lied. Her _other_ identity in Korea, Hui Hae-Ju, was indeed the social worker who handled the case of the orphan Jung Ewon. I wouldn’t be able to survive if not for her machinations of government bureaucracy.

“S- Social worker?” A stutter. “Ah, we’re from Saehan Credit Union, Jung Ewon’s company. I’m his boss. We’re looking for Jung, but he isn’t here. Would you know where he is, _ajumma_? 1”

“Ah, sorry, I wouldn’t know his location. He’s not anywhere in here, so it looks like he’s not home. Do I look that old?”

“Ah, thanks.” A beat of silence. “...Is that your pet?”

“Ah, it’s a fox that I picked up.”

“Fox? There are foxes in Seoul?!” Sung-tae- _hyung_ , please don’t change.

“There are foxes everywhere.” a familiar scolding voice cut in, and a shadow passed over the grille of the pet carrier. “That’s pretty dangerous for a pretty woman like _ajumma_ to pick up.”

“It’s not a problem. Why is the _sajangnim_ in Ewon’s house, by the way?”

“Ah, to renegotiate his contract. Looks like it’s way overdue. This trash heap needs to be revamped completely to be liveable!”

“Is that so...?” Jogae-nuna’s purr sounded fairly sinister to my fevered brain. “It wasn’t like that when I came here last.”

She kicked the side of the pet carrier softly – I must’ve forgotten to renew the illusion in my sickness.

“Yeah, it wasn’t like this when I came here last time... we played cards on the bench, and he cooked for us...”

“It’s like nobody’s been here for a while.”

“Ah... maybe he’s there...” Jogae-nuna continued to play along. “Ewon used to be problematic, you know. Sometimes he’d skip classes to visit his old elementary school and wait there on the grounds. I used to ask him why, but he always said that he’s waiting for someone. It’s heartbreaking. Maybe he’s still waiting there like an idiot, for someone who’d never come back, or would only go there at night- eh! Where are you going?!”

“ _Hyungnim! Hyungnim!_ ” The sound of running footsteps echoed with those shouts.

Jogae-nuna sighed as the running faded, before she knelt to open the pet carrier and pull me out. “See? Your house’s illusion has faded. Sooner or later they’re going to come back and find you in these pathetic digs. I’m going to treat you at my place, Ewon.”

I yowled back in reply.

“No, you can’t see anyone like this,” she scolded. “You can’t even manifest a human tongue, much less a human form!”

I snarled back, pulling the transformation magic to cloak me with the skin of a human. Never mind that my form had the demonic blue eyes and gold hair, or that my russet tails were left on display, or that my clothes hadn’t come along with me. “I totally can!”

“Shh! You’re not supposed to be at home!” Jogae-nuna stood and peered around. “Ephedra, cassia twig, almond seeds, liquorice root... Ewon, where’s your medicine?”

“Don’t... have any...” I dissolved into a fit of coughing.

“Do you at least have raw ginger?!” Jogae-nuna peered around, before she froze. “Ah-”

Jogae-nuna made a gesture. While it seemed mild, that gesture laden with power was enough to cast an illusion. The veil that descended over the pair of us was completed the moment the door swung open again.

“Ah, forgot the keys...” Sangchul-hyung mumbled as he peered into the darkness. “The pretty lady’s gone, too...”

I looked to Jogae-nuna. While her current face was moderately pretty, I’m sure none of Sangchul-hyung’s impression of her was actually due to her ever-changing looks, and more to her force of personality.

Watching Sangchul-hyung find his keys was an exercise in tentative patience. Neither of us dared to move. I took a breath, and my nose twitched into a sneeze.

“Who’s there?” Sangchul-hyung shouted.

Like that, the gossamer of the spell-web was broken. I froze, unable to move, transform or even think of escape.

Sangchul-hyung’s eyes bugged out, staring at my ears and tails. “E- Ewon?! A- Are those ears... tails... invisible...?”

Jogae-nuna blew smoke into his face. Sangchul-hyung stared around, eyes vacant behind his shades before he collapsed.

“Ewon, change back. When he wakes up and sees nobody around, this can still be salvaged,” Jogae-nuna’s eyes shone like mother-of-pearl in her face as she turned to me and started examining my face, even poking me to stick out my tongue. “Ki deficiency... and severe at that. I’ll take you to my place, we’ll get you treated. If you want to continue your human form, you must survive this first. Otherwise all your meridians will break- but you already knew, having not eaten... anything...”

Her voice trailed off. “...despair does not suit you.”

“I can’t remember what he said anymore,” I think I babbled to her in a feverish dream. “What that man said to me... I can’t remember for what reason I waited for him. Could you... tell me why? Why did I want to come here?”

I blacked out as I heard doors slam open, shouting, and breaking glass.

* * *

So in my dream, I was a fox again.

The weather was freezing enough that the winds could cut bone.

There was a battle coming – all the spirits of the forests and mountains had warned. A battle at this very valley, between Koreans who professed to be different despite being of the same species.

In this field, I’d got my leg caught in a trap.

I scrabbled and fought, but it was a narrow choice between losing the leg and bleeding to death.

There was a nice smell of incense. A shadow loomed.

I fought harder.

The trap was removed, slowly, and I saw a pair of dark eyes. His hand reached out, and I scraped and bit back, trying to get his hands away.

“Little fox, at least you’re honest about wanting to live,” he told me in the old language of Silla. “Even a beast can show integrity to refuse the touch of man, death it may mean. Will you stay with me?”

Fearful and terrified, I’d dug into a tree-root and stayed in the burrow, warily growling. The dark eyes smiled, and he set a rice cake outside the warren.

“Noble or peasant, warmth from people is important,” he told me. “Even if they’re pitying you or they’re being hypocritical, humans must help each other to survive. That’s why Seorabeol has amassed all these incense men to die.”

Then he started to play with his bow. “I swore an oath of fealty, even if I hated the Court. Go, wily fox, and remember not to kill people. If I live, I swear I’ll never betray my beliefs for empty words, and I’ll meet you with integrity. I promise I’ll meet you again.”

He was gone when I went back to the riverbank. I’d assumed that he died in that hypocritical battle he talked about. But his promise had rung with the echoes of certainty, until I found myself immersed in the necessary arts of sorcery to gain human shape. A city replaced the forest, and then wood and concrete and other materials of human make changed the space into Bae-Hyun Elementary, waiting at its outskirts.

“Now, what’s a little fox like you doing?” Jogae-hyung had yet to make the change from male to female, since the twentieth century was apparently for male things. Being originally hermaphroditic must be a benefit for her, I suppose.

We’d talked. I’d begged her to use her own magic, which far surpassed mine, to spirit-walk to the land of the Yellow Springs. She’d returned, and the reply of destiny had sprung hope in my heart:

“The bad news is, I can’t summon the spirit of that person you have been waiting for. The good news is, you no longer need to wait. He will be reincarnated into this world.”

Jogae-hyung, posing as the social worker Hui Nam-hae (he was male), helped me gain an identity as an orphaned boy. I enrolled into the very place I had been waiting for, and then I met him when my cravings for _yang_ essence had gone overboard in puberty.

That was also the day he’d walked out.

Eun Mookyul, his young self having argued with the teachers, had stripped to his pants and was prepared to walk out.

I bodily pulled him back, entreating him to continue his education with the story of my orphanhood. Jogae-hyung had told me that yes, finishing school made people into better people, and I thought that my plan would work, since he was an orphan too. It did work...

...not that I knew, since he had stepped out half-naked into the freezing winds without a care. He had turned his back to me. It could have just as well been my own, considering the way I felt about him.

I was too clever and cowardly for my own good then, and I had swapped the courage that drove me to scrabble to live for the warmth of connections, no matter how pathetic or miserable I had to be to hold on.

The roles had changed; I had been the beast before, and now he was the beast who refused man, even if it meant death.

I wanted to stop him from leaving. I didn’t know how. All I could do was, like the Hwarang-nim before me, shout out a promise to wait with my hand outstretched, to catch the back-

I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait for you right here. So you have to come back. You have to come back with integrity...

My hand reached cotton.

I’ve reached him! I pulled desperately. I’ve reached him, I’ve reached him at last-!

“Ewon, time to take your medicine-” Jogae-nuna walked out from the kitchen in time to see me rip Hyung’s shirt in half. “...ah.”

* * *

“...you sure grew up a lot,” I lamely started after Hyung had changed his shirt.

Hyung’s eyes flicked from me to Jogae-nuna, who was decocting a herbal formula at the couch-side, and back to me. “Are you sure that’s what you want to start with, Fox Jung?”

When did he start calling me that?! “F- Fox? How the hell am I a sly fox? Nuna, please explain to Hyungnim about foxes.”

“So your social worker is ‘Nuna’, eh?” Hyung’s smile turned even more brittle as he reached down and tugged my ears and one of my tails. “I keep thinking about the card and the tie bursting into flames. You didn’t even have a lighter in your hands, and yet you managed that. I was almost going to consider it ESP.”

“The word is ‘pyrokinesis’, Eun Mookyul- _ssi_ ,” Jogae-nuna immediately corrected, setting the bowl of herbal-smelling soup into my hands. “ESP refers to reception of information not gained through the recognised physical senses, but sensed with the mind. Ewon, drink.”

I downed the whole bowl, barely wincing about the taste. “Geh!”

“Bitter medicine is good for you,” Jogae-nuna replied, but gave me a stick of sweet candy to suck on. “Take Western medicine 1-2 hours apart from this soup. I made a whole pot, it’s in the kitchen. Avoid cold, raw, spicy, and oily foods, or foods that are difficult to digest. Salads are acceptable. Also, avoid drinking ice water, cold drinks, or acidic juices at the same time. I’ll visit later this week, and you can inform me about your attendance then. You seem to have something you need to resolve with your boss, so I’ll be going-”

“Please don’t leave me alone with him, Nuna!” I protested weakly. “I’m sick!”

Jogae-nuna turned back to me, and frowned. “Yes. And here is a supply of the _yang_ energy you need so desperately.”

“Nuna!” I felt scandalised by her words, callous however well-meaning they were offered. “I- I can’t explain this alone! I can’t even think straight!”

Jogae-nuna pursed her lips. Then she poked my forehead with her index finger. Weak as a newborn kit, I fell back onto the couch with the bedclothes.

“I’ll make a cup of tea,” she decided. “Then we can talk. Your name is Eun Mookyul, is that right?”

“...right.”

“Such a good name,” Jogae-nuna added. “That name means ‘integrity’. I can see that the choice was not false.”

* * *

 

 

_**1 This is a title Koreans use to address older women, in general.** _


	10. 九: ䷉ – Treading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If you remove yourself now, your former boss can’t tell anyone. He won’t tell anyone – humans nowadays respond to the supernatural with either autographs, movies, or straitjackets. Ten, twenty years, and he’ll think it’s a dream. You stalk him, get close to him, and if he tells...” The finger drawn across the throat was very clear.

****  
은 무결  
  


“What a good name,” Jogae-nuna commented over a cup of tea. “Eun Mookyul.”

This was Hyung’s place, and yet somehow she’d moved to take precedent in that part where Jogae-nuna explains my exact circumstances to my former boss. Current boss. Whatever. I was too sick to care.

“Eun, for silver,” she continued to speculate. “Integrity of silver. Your name is fated to be tied to the world of finance.”

“Cut the crap, _ajumma_ ,” Hyung glared at us.

“Do I look that old?” Jogae-nuna griped to me now.

“We’ll be at this forever if we have to keep it a secret,” I sank back into the cushioned surface, wheezing.

“Then...” Jogae-nuna exhaled. A plume of misty smoke enveloped her head and body. When it faded, another woman was seated there – pale skin, raven-black hair and dark eyes, the classic Asian beauty in a demure knee-length one-piece lacy pink dress. “This is better, after all.”

“What the fuck are you?!” Hyung demanded.

“We are _yokwe_ ,” Jogae-nuna’s face, now young and beautiful, broke out into a smile. “My real name is Gang Jogae. The person you know as Jung Ewon, is the human identity I set up for a _samiho_ more than twenty years ago.”

Then she reappeared in front of Hyung, and flicked his nose absently. “Of course, that means that I know the exact circumstances of Ewon’s employment. If you can call it that, Eun Mookyul- _ssi_. You’ve caused Ewon quite a pickle.”

“You’re... a fox. A... _gumiho_?” Hyung stared at me. “...how the fuck are you so damn weak then?”

“I’m a _samiho_ , bastard!” My tails waved in his face to make my point. His employee turns out to be a monster, and that’s his main gripe?!

“He couldn’t find a man to eat from.”

My spine stiffened from his grabbing one of my tails. “ _Owowowow_! Let go, Hyungnim!”

“Eat?! You fucker, you were looking for livers all along?!”

“Not that type!” I broke my tail free, hurriedly massaging it before my hard work fell off. “I don’t eat human livers!”

“Then what human parts do you eat?!” Hyungnim shouted back at me.

“I...” I looked down. “... _yang_ energy.”

I looked up. Hyung blinked. “Come again?”

“I eat... energy. From... guys.”

A couple of unreadable expressions crossed Hyung’s face. “What, girls can’t cut it for you? Or is it a matter of _preference_? Animals have sexual orientations too?”

Shit, this was one reason why I hated explaining to humans. Too many folktales got corrupted in the damn mass media. “Female energy is _ŭm_. Male energy is _yang_. _Ŭ_ _myang_ – yin and yang in Taoism. But I usually can’t eat too much from one person, or they’ll lose all vital energy.”

Comprehension dawned. “So when you were cheating on Shin Jiho, it’s because you _aren’t_ eating from him. And he doesn’t know.”

You know, Hyung is actually kinda smart where it matters, even if he’s not toting a fancy SKY degree around. “It’s easier to hide if I spread my feeding around...” I cringed under Hyung’s glare.

Hyung’s eyes narrowed.

He then turned towards Jogae-nuna. “Oi, woman. Is that why you asked me to bleed into his medicine?”

I looked down, checking the bandage at the crook of Hyung’s elbow.

“Yes,” Jogae-nuna nodded over my meltdown over drinking his blood. “Right now, Ewon has a cold on top of _Ki_ deficiency due to prolonged... starvation. It helps, especially since you gave me 300 cc to work with. You’re very healthy, Eun Mookyul- _ssi_. _Very_ healthy. Ewon, you could fully recover by ‘receiving’ from him.”

I blushed. I’m fairly sure my ears were standing on end, as were my tails. “Nuna!”

Jogae-nuna patted my head as she stood up. “Well, I’ll leave you guys to work it out. I’ll come again tomorrow if you guys somehow manage to get over... this.”

“I’m not done yet!” Hyung stood up, blocking the way.

“I’m not the one you want to demand answers from, Eun Mookyul-ssi.”

Hyung thought. Hyung sat down. Jogae-nuna gave a tiny wave, and then sauntered out in a whiff of raw ginger and honey. The door slammed behind her, in an awkward echo.

* * *

I fidgeted on the couch. Hyung still sat there, looking at me. We looked at each other until I really couldn’t endure any more silence. Jogae-nuna’s leaving might have left us in peace, but it had also meant that there was nothing to distract us from the main issue at hand now – the fact that he _knew_.

That he knew, and still brought me into his house... I didn’t want to examine the implications. For one, that would mean that I’d have to figure out if he wanted me, or my skin.

“I must be dreaming,” I finally admitted, relaxing against the arm of the couch.

“No surprise,” his lips twitched. “Your fever ran to forty-four °C. Even your _nuna_ said that if it didn’t break tonight, you would’ve become a corpse.”

I sighed, prompting another fit of coughing until I wrapped myself in the bedclothes. “Yeah...”

“Most people would be dead already, Fox Jung.”

“Yeah,” I grumbled into the bedclothes. “This wouldn’t been embarrassing to admit, you know, but I... I waited for you.”

I spoke to a soft inhale.

“I knew that humans wouldn’t come back, but... I didn’t stop waiting,” I mumbled between coughs. “I waited outside during every break, every chance I got. It’s actually kinda funny. When I first met you, I thought that you were the second most handsome person I’ve ever met. You know who the first one was?”

“...no,” Hyung’s voice was hoarse.

“It was when you were a kid.”

I giggled at his expression of stupefaction. “I don’t know why I didn’t remember you. It’s not like you lost your bad temper or your talent for beating the shit outta people. Even a young fox like me, you dare to beat up.”

“Your mouth should be in a circus if you keep yakking on,” Hyung growled. “You didn’t remember shit about the whole thing.”

“Foxes have short memories,” I coughed quietly. “Do you understand, Hyungnim? I am a fox.”

“How does that matter?” He demanded back.

“A long time ago, I wanted to become human to repay a random stranger who saved me from a trap. That was how I started on the road to learn the arts of sorcery,” I explained. “This face, this human skin, of mine took many passings of the sun and the moon before I ever managed to fashion one of my own, and mix amongst the human masses. So focused I was, that the passage of time eluded me. Before I knew it, the forest was replaced by a field, the kingdoms have stood and fallen, and Hanyang had become Seoul. The man had died a long time ago, before I ever managed to thank him.”

I don’t know why I started crying. “Maybe I always knew that he was dead, you know? But, I didn’t want to let go of this fantasy, that maybe learning this would mean _something_. In the end, I gained powers and more tails, a long life spent aimless, and nothing to my existence. My existence as a predator and my long life means that I could never form attachments to humans. I can’t suffer that heartbreak.”

Hyung gave me a flat look. Over the course of my tale, he’d somehow migrated from his own sofa chair to perch on the edge of the long couch. And the grip he trapped my left hand in could only mean that he was serious.

“You didn’t eat the real Jung Ewon, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not eating _your_ liver, and I _am_ Jung Ewon. If that’s not proof enough, I could’ve set fire to the office throughout my entire stay there. My body’s weak for a _bulyeowoo_ , but I’m very confident in my sorcery.”

“Well, it’s still not too late to try, then.”

My head hurt. My chest hurt. What was this man saying? It sounded like he was speaking through cotton wool, even as he took off his reading glasses to set them aside.

“I don’t mind whether I’m on top or bottom.”

“...I’m being serious right now, Hyungnim.”

“So am I.” A decisive _thunk_ sounded against wood. “What’s the point of running your mouth regretting all your bygones? All it does is piss people off and waste your time. So...”

I winced as he grabbed my jaw and pulled my face to his. “You have food in front of you. Are you gonna eat up?”

...is this guy for real? I tell him I’m a demon fox who eats _yang_ energy, and his response is ‘sure, go ahead, here’s mine for starters’?

“I doubt you’ll use Jiho as an excuse anymore,” Hyung continued to wonder aloud as he started looming. “Or maybe you’ve got another prick stashed away on the side like a little snack? If you do, you’d better ‘fess up now. I’ll catch ‘em and bury every single one of them.”

“-.-’... Hyungnim, do you really have to act like this to a half-conscious patient?”

“I don’t give a damn ‘cause I’m a ‘stupid, obnoxious gangster fuck’, what are you gonna do?”

He’s gonna use that against me forever, right...? I silently cried in my heart. “...I don’t wanna even think about it. I wanna run away.”

“Because you’re afraid of food?” He scoffed about his own life. “What you say it like that, it sounds dumb. You’re a beast, so act like one and taste it properly. You’ll change your mind after a taste.”

“Damn, that’s such a-” I started coughing harder, which prompted me to grab another mouthful of Jogae-nuna’s awfully effective – and just plain awful sometimes, especially cold – medicinal soup.

Only when the wracking coughs had subsided, then I dared to look to Hyung. “I’ve got a cold to fight. Can we deal with this later?”

His response? The fucker leant closer.

“I said, you’re gonna catch my cold.”

“Don’t care.” He pulled his face to mine and deepened a kiss before his large hands pulled at my clothes.

“Please don’t,” I begged. “I don’t even have the strength to lift my fingers...”

“It’s not bad to have you sick as a dog once in a while.” Hyung’s voice chuckled quietly as my back arched to meet his body. “It makes things easy for me, now that you can’t put up a fight.”

Why I’m here in his place, what I’m supposed to do from now on... I threw all of those worries out of the window, and fell into a deep dream. How long has it been, I wonder, since I felt so relaxed, and the anxiety and foreboding that haunted me did not follow.

* * *

“Oh, you’re finally recovered!”

“Yes, Jogae-nuna...” I yawned, cracking my jaw as I slowly tried to extricate myself from a bed. A few days into the terrible disease of the extra-strength common cold was enough to make me recover... even if I couldn’t recall much beyond the point of _how the fuck_ _d_ _id I move into Hyung’s place?!_

“You know, when I left you with your sex maniac of a boss, I thought there wouldn’t even be a body left,” Jogae-nuna happily reiterated her story. “It was either you eat him or he eats you, I’m so glad you took the option in front of you and finally trashed things out. Otherwise I’m going to have to do something like what I did to the sunglasses guy~”

“Sunglasses-” My spine had never been straighter than when I got such a shock. “Sangchul- _hyung_?!!! Wait, Don’t kill him!”

“No... I just convinced him it was a dream~” Jogae-nuna _smiled_.

Her smile is fucking creepy, if you’re human. To a demon, it was only slightly less creepy as a declaration of war from a very powerful _youkai_.

I bet Sangchul-hyung pissed his pants. “But he’s alive?”

“Yes.” Jogae-nuna licked her lips. “How are you?”

I paused. That was a loaded question if I’d heard one.

“He’s been nursing you well.”

“Y- Yes, Nuna.”

“He also...” here, Jogae-nuna hesitated.

“What?” I demanded. “What, Jogae-nuna?”

“He tried to cancel your apartment lease, but I’ve asked Hyejin to stall,” Jogae-nuna said, referring to my _kkangcheoli_ landlady. This was the extent of Nuna’s power in Seoul, to even ask a failed _imugi_ to guard the string of apartments that were rented in secret for the supernatural community of Seoul. “I’m not sure what he’s trying right now, however... he seems rather fixated on you.”

I didn’t answer.

I couldn’t answer. “Nuna... what d’you think he’ll do?”

Jogae-nuna did not respond for a while. “ _Gumiho_ have been the lovers of great men. Able to wield sorcery and learn various wisdoms. But, I have never seen a man knowingly take in a _bulyeowoo_ without an ulterior motive. It is... very easy... for such a man to control your human life and... you’re a smart boy, Ewon.”

“What should I do, Nuna?” I gave a hushed whisper.

One finger was held up. “If you remove yourself now, your former boss can’t tell anyone. He _won’t_ tell anyone – humans nowadays respond to the supernatural with either autographs, movies, or straitjackets. Ten, twenty years, and he’ll think it’s a dream. You stalk him, get close to him, and if he tells...” The finger drawn across the throat was very clear.

Jogae-nuna opened her mouth to say more, but then her spine stiffened and turned around.

“Eun Mookyul- _ssi_.”

“You’re still here, _ajumma_?” Hyung drawled as he walked into his apartment, several of the office brothers behind him carrying take-out. “You got visitors, Fox Jung.”

They descended like a clouds of crying locusts. “ _Ewon_!”

“Guys! I missed you, come-”

“Look at them with your eyes.” Slim and deceptively strong fingers held me back by the collar. “No touching. Man, why d’you have to hug everything you see?”

“So, y’all better?” Sangchul-hyung chuckled as he brought a plastic bag to Jogae-nuna. “You were like a freaking zombie the last time I saw you. Hae-Ju, I brought some osmanthus tea for you.”

I looked at Sangchul-hyung’s face and grin.

Then I looked at Jogae-nuna.

“Thank you,” Jogae-nuna gave a wicked smile. “Ewon, isn’t he thoughtful? What do you think?”

I thought Sangchul-hyung was doomed.

“Try to leave him alive, you man-eater,” Hyung looked a bit pissed off.

“Hyungnim, don’t say that! It’s the first time Sangchul-hyung’s got an interest in a girl! And she’s even Ewon’s Nuna!” Sung-tae-hyung quickly jumped in Sangchul-hyung’s defence. “What’s wrong with her?”

Hyung and I exchanged looks. Okay... maybe we could set aside our differences for however long it took to engineer a breakup. Right now. Later... we can deal with it later.


	11. 十: ䷊ – Pervading

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s flower wine,” Jogae-nuna replied, tapping out something on a phone before she got up to put a hand on my forehead. She slipped the phone in my shirt pocket. When did she get it? “Made from the flower of sexual excitement.

“Who the hell does he think he is?!” I complained at the next meeting of Yokwe that I managed to attend. It was so hard, cooking and escaping my new landlord’s attentions.

All the resources that Hyung could muster, though, probably fell short of those needed to trace Jogae-nuna. Especially if he didn’t know what he was searching for.

“What happened?” Chae-won asked me in the middle of eating another of my snacks.

“His boss found out that Ewon’s not only a _samiho_ , but that Ewon desperately needs it to survive,” Jogae-nuna replied mid-bite. “So not only does this boss not care, he also wants to f-”

“ _And_ that’s my cue,” I interrupted. “What happened to minors being present?!”

“Today is 19+ restricted,” Jogae-nuna spoke through her pancake. “Mi-Suk put Eunwol with a babysitter while we discuss the problems of interspecies marriage.”

“The thing is, interspecies marriages are hard to maintain when the other half finds out,” another _dokkaebi_ named Ji-Yong agreed. “It’s like just not being human gives the other half license to kill you and take another, prettier wife. It’s so unfair! What’s more nowadays all the wives want to fly to America for the kids’ English.”

“You’re a goose, you can be a _gireogi appa_ ,” Chae-won told Ji-Yong. “Get some will, will you? You can even become an eagle dad or a penguin dad or a sparrow dad, just don’t bring that into our dinner!1” Then she turned to me. “Ewon, how did you enter university?! I know you deferred entering to go serve national service, but how did you do? Your English is so good! Can you recommend any _hagwon_?” 2

I pointed to my tutor. “Jogae-nuna tutored me.”

“Jogae-unni did?!” Chae-won did a double-take. “Unnim! Can you tutor me?!”

“Can you cook as well as Ewon?”

Chae-won deflated. “Please, Unnim, just enough for my English grade to rise. I’ll pay... sixty thousand _won_ a month?”

“You cease and desist now,” Jogae-nuna sighed. “Ewon gets paid two million won a month, and has a five-million won investment in various stocks guaranteed by his boss to swell to a hundred million.”

“Nuna!” I complained in the middle of her gossiping. “You’ve been talking to Sangchul-hyung, haven’t you?!”

“When your address suddenly moved to your boss’ house, you bet I do,” Jogae-nuna sighed like I was a dumb child who needed things explained to him again. “Someone who moved into a crazy awesome house with a crazy good-looking stud has no rights to complain.”

An uproar started.

“Jogae-nuna, you’ve met his boss?!”

“Is he as crazy hot as Ewon says?! Is he real??!”

“Oi!” I shouted, though everyone stopped as Jogae-nuna pulled out her phone and started tapping on it. “Nuna! When did you take that photo?!”

“When you were sick and Eun Mookyul swept in to carry you off in a princess carry,” she paused. “Ah, you were really out of it. Ki deficiency on top of pneumonia, completely forgetting your health... lucky you have your boss, huh.”

“It’s not serious!” I insisted. “We’ll break up once we’re tired of each other. I’m just staying with him ‘cause it’s convenient, Nuna!”

“It’s like those totally unreal CK ads where you can’t tell if they managed to recruit some of us,” Chae-won gossiped furiously to Yu-jin as Hyung’s face made the rounds. “Holy- that’s a human male? And he doesn’t have... plastic?”

“Totally real,” Jogae-nuna confirmed. “I used the Discerning Eyes to check. Short of the _Jecheon-daeseong_ , nothing else can trick those eyes.”3

The consensus that developed amongst the comrades of Yokwe, in the end, boiled down to Hyung being a “Natural-born beautiful man, just between hunk and pretty boy.” I don’t know what to feel... If I live with him, get intimate with him, and get his affection, I’ll really fall in love with this guy.

The life I’d been living so far that revolved around me and my waiting alone... would end.

I should move on with life... but I’m terrified. I’m now living with someone that I never dreamed about sharing a home with. If I gave up now... what should I do? I’ve never thought beyond that.

“Wait, you’re living with him?!” someone just said. “So he’s hot _and_ rich?! Some people get all the luck! Does he have any bad points?”

“He sleeps naked.”

Jogae-nuna and Chae-won shared a look. “Ewon, that’s a stellar point,” Chae-won told me with pity in her voice. “Easy sex.”

I shook my head. “Not in exams.”

Jogae-nuna was the first to break up the loud silence. “What a _coincidence_.”

Everyone nodded along. “Really, such a coincidence~”

They know, I thought. They definitely know that I lied to Hyung to save my ass. They definitely know that last night, I had to race and lock the door to the other room or else the beast would’ve attacked-!

“By the way, is he going to appear here soon?” And the gossiping demons rise...

“No way!” I insisted. “I’m just a phase to him. He’s definitely not interested in the long-term.”

* * *

Office sex is definitely not long-term! It’s just head.

But I gotta admit, he’s a damn good kisser. Now, though, I gotta dissuade the bastard... how?

“How long are you going to make me wait?”

...dammit. Dammit. He’s really relentless. It’s such a headache... “Until the exams are over...?”

“So, when’s that?”

“...next Friday.”

“WHAT?!” Which was how I got my collar hauled up. “I don’t mind calling Jiho to find out, you little prick!”

“C- Calm down, please, Hyungnim-!”

Luckily, the other brothers came back then, although I feel sorry for Sung-tae-hyung because the boss called him impotent. But it’s gonna be the weekend... I’ve heard of gumiho sabotaging others’ love affairs, but sabotaging their own has got to be a first.

How do I go about it...? Minor cold? Mild traffic accident? Broken leg? Sleepless dreams?

* * *

I called Jogae-nuna. “Nunim, I need a mild curse for performance anxiety.”

“...how mild are we talking, and how soon do you need it?”

“Next weekend?” I start to mull over the timeline of my plan. “What do I need?”

“Ewon, you’re asking for a mental curse with unclear origins.” Jogae-nuna sighed. “There’s no such _mild curse_ that arrests sexual energy for only two days. Why’d you need it anyway?”

“I need it to save my ass, Nuna,” I complained over my cellphone. “You know his- he’ll tear me in half!”

“Well, flesh is elastic given the right circumstances... and prep-”

“Please do not give the gay sex lecture again,” I scowled into the receiver, not that she could see it. “I know. I had to craft this face, remember?”

Shape-changing magic was hard to master, because it required knowing the human body. Good shape-changing and serious mastery of it required even more precise knowledge, though the fact of _bulyeowoo_ passing as human in society through the ages was probably helped by the fact that shamans were not only at the bottom of the pecking order, but also regularly executed. If you’re moderately pretty, you could live for years and years on end before people realised that you’re not ageing or never fell sick or got a sudden windfall or something.

A common trick was to pass off as a _kisaeng_ , flirt about, pop out a ‘baby’ with a pre-arranged guardian, and the ‘ _kisaeng_ ’ dies in childbirth. There are other ways to pass off as human too, but the important thing was to construct a flawless identity (birth certificate, education, documents, etc) if you intended to live as a human for years and years on end.

A lot of the inconveniences of living human could be solved if your neighbours simply took zero interest in your affairs and failed to notice that you never fell ill or injured or that somehow all your affairs _magically_ settled themselves – which, if you’re living in Seoul, isn’t actually that hard if you’re clever and have support.

My point is, it’s not the face that gives us away.

 _That_ I got down – nobody who knows me in university could say that I was a literal man-eater. Metaphorical, maybe, but I maintain that I never ate human flesh, and my delicate constitution is evidence.

Nowadays it’s not even the tails or the ears that are suspicious. It’s always the acting – the little details that lead people to suspect that you’re a threat. In fairy tales and dramas you always have little clues, but on a whole Western science has led a lot to believe that monsters were mainly human and a figment of the human imagination. There are a lot of human monsters, believe me, but monster-monsters exist, only nobody ever believes it now.

“Flesh is elastic,” I repeated. “That doesn’t mean I wanna test that on my own ‘chastity’.”

“Chastity is a convenient construct invented for humans,” Jogae-nuna rebutted. “There is no way to promise fidelity to a human throughout your entire lifetime. That could be forever. In his lifetime, maybe.”

“Thanks for your scathing feminist assessment, now let’s go back to the bit where _my ass is in danger_.”

“It’s not that scary. All you have to do is close your eyes.”

“Are you going to help or not?!” I complained. “I can still call Mi-Suk!”

“Ah, I got the perfect thing. We’ll meet for dinner.”

Later that day, after exams had wrapped up, I stared at the bottle in Nuna’s hands. It was better than throwing it at Nuna, because no matter how nice she was, Jogae-nuna was still a tri-millennial demon who could crush me like a bug. “Hyung doesn’t drink!”

“It’s for _you_ ,” Jogae-nuna informed me. “Alcohol is a depressant, which inhibits sexual activity. Men like Eun Mookyul don’t like it when their partners don’t reciprocate.”

“Nuna, that’s following the assumption that he won’t just have his way with me if I’m drunk,” I pointed out.

“Well, this is flower wine made in the fields of Seocheon,” Jogae-nuna pointed out. “It’ll have a different effect.”

“...really?” I stared at her, grabbing the bottle. “It’s useful?”

Her smile dropped. “If you don’t want it, give it back.” She made a move to grab it.

I held onto it. “I want, I want!”

“Then drink it.”

I obediently drank it until it was empty. I shuddered as the alcohol entered my blood, it burned so hot and cold that I had no idea what was up or down. I glared at the bottle in my hands, now empty, trying to read the text.

“Nuna... what’s this wine?”

“It’s flower wine,” Jogae-nuna replied, tapping out something on a phone before she got up to put a hand on my forehead. She slipped the phone in my shirt pocket. When did she get it? “Made from the flower of sexual excitement.”

“Y- You’re... you’re despicable,” I scowled.

“I also mixed in some anise for an extra kick,” Jogae-nuna added before she pushed me back. “I ran a brothel in the Tang dynasty. If my girls were alive, they’d tell you how terrified of me they were, because I’d seen enough to make date rape look like jaywalking. It’ll be fun, I swear.”

Her strength almost made me miss the trickle of magic around her fist. I then recalled that demons could disregard physical distances to send things and people wherever they liked, if they were strong enough.

* * *

I recalled babbling, and a warm arm pulling me up, and a comfy bed. Jogae-nuna dumped me at the apartment, which was the best option on hindsight since the wine also messed with my coherence.

“Mookyul~” I giggled. “Hahaha, I like the sound of that. Hyungnim, we knew each other in elementary school... doesn’t that mean that we can be buddies? Mookyul~ haha!”

I think I heard a voice: “Go ahead and enjoy it.”

A while later, I was scared awake by the demon incarnate that was Eun Mookyul... wait, that’s wrong! I’m the demon in this pairing!

“Oh, Hyungnim, what’s the...” I trailed off as my phone made dangerous acquaintances with my face.

“I’ll give you five seconds to explain what this is.”

I read the message to his counting, sent by some guy I didn’t know but was willing to bet belonged to Jogae-nuna. “It’s Nuna! It’s Jogae-nuna! Nuna was a Hyung in the previous century!”

“Then explain how this shit happened,” he pointed down to the tent I was pitching in my trousers.

Nuna, why, oh why, did you have to sabotage me now? “Nuna drugged me! With _hwaju_!”

Hyung kissed me, with tongue, probably trying to check. “Hmm... delicious... oh.”

What? What?! I pulled my head back to look at him. Dark eyes dilated with lust, blood rushing, heartbeat speeding up-

“Hyungnim, stop,” I pleaded. “You know how damn near impossible it is to control our animal urges.”

There was a snapping sound. It could easily be the shirt that Hyungnim just tore apart. “Control our animal urges, huh? I’m glad you said that. I’ll show you how impossible it is for me to control my animal urges.”

“Ack, I’m sorry! Jogae-nuna, save me! Wait, Hyungnim, it doesn’t go in like that-”

* * *

“Told you it’d work out,” Jogae-nuna looked at my face and made me stick out my tongue at the next meeting of Yokwe. “Ki back to normal, physical exhaustion prominent – full marks for my prescription.”

“Drugging people to have sex is punishable in Hell, right?” I complained. Sure, one bottle of the _hwaju_ wasn’t enough to affect me, but Hyungnim had tasted it from my lips and that meant that he was compromised, right?

Wrong.

The _hwaju_ faded after the first time. He then proceeded to fuck me two more times into the mattress of his own volition. We probably broke the bed, if the odd creaking now was any indication. The evil sadist left me in so much pain I could barely move, and he’d wanted more.

Jogae-nuna dismissed my ethical concerns just like that. She was an alien being, Jogae-nuna. “Your problem was that you didn’t know if he liked you. Now that we’ve established a mutual connection, it’s obvious that I couldn’t in good conscience let you sabotage your potential hunt. After all, you’re running hot with energy for the first time in so long, yes?”

She was right, of course.

I hated that she was right.

“So,” Jogae-nuna continued, “I invited your lover over to participate in our talk. He’ll be here soon.”

* * *

 

_**1 A gireogi appa is a Korean man who works in Korea while his wife and children stay in an English-speaking country for the sake of the children's education. If the gireogi appa has the finances to pay for frequent visits to see his family, he is called an "eagle dad" but if finances constrict his ability to travel abroad, he is known as a "penguin dad" because he cannot fly and may go without seeing his family for years at a time. If the man cannot afford to send his children abroad, he rents a small studio for his wife and children in Gangnam, an area dense with tuition centres. That father is called a "sparrow dad".** _

_**2 Hagwon is the Korean-language word for a for-profit private institute, academy or cram school prevalent in South Korea. Children of all ages often attend hagwon, even those in the pre-school age bracket. It is not uncommon for students to be enrolled in several hagwon of different subject areas at once in addition to their normal school attendance. Many hagwon also have adults as students, particularly those dedicated to teaching the English language.** _

_**3 This is the Korean name for ‘Great Sage Equalling Heaven’ ( 齊天大聖), a title of Sun Wukong.** _


	12. 十一: ䷋ – Obstruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I found him,” I stated, “and he turns out to be the dumb, pretentious, gangster fuck who punched me at Bae-Hyun Elementary, again at Jiho’s setup and punched me again when I admitted to being the one to grab his balls. So,” I continued as his face slackened, laughing in the great heaves of hysteria as I spoke with the half-hysteria of someone who has just been struck dumb by the world and its terrible coincidences again. “I should’ve fallen out of love with him, this is terrible, but I can’t look away because he’s also a gentle boss and responsible account-keeper and a somewhat legit businessman with a dubious background. And I’ve found my life’s purpose after finding him but I’ve never considered, what comes after? What do I do now? What do I do _now_?”

****“You _invited_ him over.”

“Yes.”

I breathed through my mouth, changed to my nose, and wondered about the methods of killing demons. Peach wood, talismans, and... well, I couldn’t kill Jogae-nuna by any means, but I could damn well _try_. “You said that humans can’t get into contact with demons, but you’re flinging me at him. Why?”

“You’re a smart boy.”

I wanted to flinch at her choice of words, but it was technically true. I had lived for over a thousand years, technically, and yet I would still be a babe compared to Jogae-nuna in pure experience, if not power alone.

Age had a way of working out as either a crippling factor or an augmentation of power. I don’t know how invertebrates differed from mammals, but I’d heard that Jogae-nuna could have enough power to rival the deities of the Celestial Bureaucracy.

“There’s... something important.” I counted. “About Hyung.”

If Hyung managed to grab Jogae-nuna’s attention... I mentally shuddered. Normal _yokwe_ would not survive Jogae-nuna’s undivided attentions. With that said, there was also no reason for her to even contact Hyung except... about me.

Okay. Expand that. What little matter am I forgetting?

No, discard that. What has changed?

“We had sex. That... changed your plans?” I asked for clarification.

“Remember why, Ewon,” Jogae-nuna reminded me. “Why did you first choose to be human?”

Oh.

“The Hwarang surfaced?” I asked her. “He’s reincarnated? That person is here?”

“Yes.”

“Take me to him.”

“But he will not fall for you.”

“I...” I nodded. “That’s fine. Each of us have... our lives.”

“Even though you loved that person, Ewon?”

“Which person?!”

I jumped about a metre into the air as Hyung stormed into the meeting room that was supposed to be excluded to all humans. This was Jogae-nuna’s domain – she must have let him in.

“Which prick d’you have this time, Jung Ewon?!” he shouted. Why is he so furious, why is he-

“I don’t have any, bastard!” I yelled back at him. “ _It’s a thousand years ago, he’s dead now!_ ”

“...”

“I...” I closed my eyes. “I have waited a thousand years to know that he was alright. He was the first person to show me kindness. I cannot let this go, Hyungnim. He promised that he would come back. Once this promise is fulfilled, I can finally move on with my life.”

Hyung had rapidly deflated. “...that had better be all.”

“It will be,” I promised at the same moment that Jogae-nuna added, “That’s not all.”

I whirled on her. “My life is not a drama!” I shouted back at her. “You can’t just throw loops at me and watch me suffer! Just bring me to him, Nuna!”

She looked puzzled. “But I have brought him to you. Reincarnation and all. I have kept my word.”

“What d’you mean? The only person here is-” I stopped talking.

The reincarnation must be older than this identity – already born when I met Jogae-hyung. And he must have integrity – but what form was never actually specified. _Cheonglyeom, bojeon, wanjeon_...

 _Mugyeol_.

To Hyung’s confusion, I then reached closer to Jogae-nuna. “Oh. Oh. Oh?”

She patted my head. “He can’t fall in love if he’s already fallen, can he?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t actually thought or imagined much beyond finding the man, and repaying – how, I couldn’t figure out, but there were a myriad variety of tales about _bulyeowoo_ like me.

Stupid, foolish foxes who played at strength and tricked men and ate livers – kind, foolish foxes celebrated as the partners and spouses of heroes and heroines – downfalls of castles and countries – founders of kingdoms and great works.

“What just happened?” Hyung asked, like it was none of his business. In a way... all of this was my unilateral decision to chase him.

“A resolution.” My back straightened and I turned to Hyung.

Hyung’s face screwed up in distaste. “Didn’t you need to find a man? A... reincarnation?”

“I already found him,” I smirked at Hyung. “I have good news and bad news for you, Hyungnim. Which do you want to hear?”

His dark eyes, already confused by my vulpine nature and the fact that I’m flashing my tails now, fell. One hand moved to his watch – he was definitely in a killing mood. “The bad.”

“You see, I’m totally captivated by the man who rescued me a thousand years ago,” I cooed, half-giggling. “I spent a thousand years waiting for him, never caring or noticing that cities fell and rose around me, that forests were cleared and the fates of humans lived and died, and I rose only to join human society to find him again.”

“And the good news?” he growled.

“I found him,” I stated, “and he turns out to be the dumb, pretentious, gangster fuck who punched me at Bae-Hyun Elementary, again at Jiho’s setup and punched me again when I admitted to being the one to grab his balls. So,” I continued as his face slackened, laughing in the great heaves of hysteria as I spoke with the half-hysteria of someone who has just been struck dumb by the world and its terrible coincidences again. “I should’ve fallen out of love with him, this is terrible, but I can’t look away because he’s also a gentle boss and responsible account-keeper and a somewhat legit businessman with a dubious background. And I’ve found my life’s purpose after finding him but I’ve never considered, what comes after? What do I _do_ now? What do I do _now_?”

I laughed, and I kept laughing when I saw the dumbstruck and elated look on his face, like he doesn’t understand the complexity of this bouquet of emotions running in my veins and heart.

Jogae-nuna had left, and the domain left with her. The pair of us were left in an abandoned storeroom, paint peeling with each peal of laughter I sent, tile cracking with each flame I summon to wreath around me, and dust shifting with barely a whisper as he stared at me with dark eyes and reached through the ghost fires to pull me through the curtain for a kiss. We were left as we were in the dust and the darkness like a pair of mortals discarded and broken by the vagaries of fate.

What fools these mortals be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still an epilogue to go, good luck! - LLS


	13. Epilogue: ䷿ – Not Yet Completed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “But it’s not a problem per se anymore,” Jogae-nuna reasoned. “And I’ll collect my payment in, oh, about sixty years or so.”

It was the next meeting of Yokwe that I stood up and pointed towards Jogae-nuna.

“This woman,” I announced to everyone at large, “is a total bitch of a fairy godmother. Nobody better ask for her services.”

All of the _yokwe_ , happily eating the _kimchi jeon_ that I’d made, started laughing again.

“We don’t have _that_ , Ewon,” Chae-won laughed. “She’s a total bitch because you’re a total idiot.”

“Oi!”

Jogae-nuna shrugged. “I was a courtesan in the Tang dynasty. We had to be bitches to survive. If you wanted to live with all your friends and family, you had to skin your enemies alive.”

“You’re more bloodthirsty than normal demons! You demon god!”

“Thank you, Ewon,” Her eyelids fell. “You’re still working for me after graduation.”

“Aren’t I already?”

“You know in what capacity you’re worth.”

“Which is why you even bothered offering to teach me at all, right?” I snarked back. “Because you need skilled employees.”

Which was why her stumbling across me had been so fortuitous, I grumbled to myself as the signs of my greater metamorphosis brushed across one cheek. I was now an _omiho_ – a five-tailed fox. At the rate I was progressing, I was going to reach the status of _gumiho_ by the end of the 21 st century.

As for what caused it...

“Of course,” Jogae-nuna was frank. “Your attentions are right now occupied with this farce of normal life. Should you ever tire – and you will tire – I will have a debt to call in at my employment from a rising _gumiho_. Isn’t that the standard practice? I found him for you.”

It was a coincidence, I wanted to argue. I found him first, all by myself. But that experience was like two ships passing in the night.

I would not have known to stop and look. To wait. And, to hope.

“I also solved your problem in the end,” Jogae-nuna commented.

I blinked. My pancake fell to the table with a _splat_. “Eh?”

“How not to eat your boss.”

I blew up. “I ate him anyway!”

“But it’s not a problem per se anymore,” Jogae-nuna reasoned. “And I’ll collect my payment in, oh, about sixty years or so.”

I swallowed. Jogae-nuna was still cultivating, I had forgotten. An immortal who, though she lived amongst humans, was assuredly not one of them to begin with and never cared to be one of them. Sixty or seventy years was chump change for most _yokwe_ , so all she had to do was wait until my heart was freed.

When Mookyul died.

She could wait. I could wait.

He could not.

Was this... what I wanted?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIN.


End file.
